Libertyville awards contract for big parking project

Crews have been idle recently but the pace is expected to pick up quickly for the last major parking improvement west of Milwaukee Avenue in Libertyville.

The Libertyville village board this week approved a contract of nearly $482,000 to A-Lamp Concrete Contractors of Schaumburg for construction to transform the lot adjacent to village hall and the backs of a block of businesses between Lake Street and Cook Avenue.

“It’s a very nice, comprehensive parking plan. It’ll be very inviting, I think,” said Public Works Director John Heinz.

The village has budgeted $1.5 million for the project that will connect Lake Street and Cook Avenue, and provide pedestrian walkways and landscaping.

As part of that project, the village will purchase about $85,000 in benches, bike racks, planters, streetlights and other amenities to avoid contractor markup. That will bring the total to about $567,000.

That aspect of work won’t begin until after Libertyville Days, which runs June 16 through 19.

By that time, the first portion of the project, which literally lays the groundwork for the rest, should be complete.

That involves relocating and burying all overhead utilities, a $427,000 contract awarded in January to Aldridge Electric.

All aspects of the work are being paid with tax increment financing funds.

Aldridge is installing underground conduit and facilities to allow overhead wiring for electric, cable and telephone contained on five poles to be buried, clearing a cluttered landscape. The utilities will be paid separately to physically move the lines.

Crews were “really kicking butt” when they encountered suspicious soil about two weeks ago, Heinz said.

“It smelled like some type of petroleum product,” he said. That was confirmed in a report received this week, and the soil had to be removed and disposed of as special waste, he added.

Heinz theorized the materials were deposited years ago as fill. He said it was an isolated area but there’s no way to know if it will be encountered elsewhere.

Work is expected to resume next week.

The lot remains open but likely will be closed to vehicle traffic once construction begins, Heinz said.

“We’re going to be going through certainly some upheaval for the next few months,” said Pam Hume, executive director of MainStreet Libertyville, a downtown revitalization group. “We’re trying to be more proactive with our events, giving people more options than just the back parking lot.”

Despite the setback, Heinz said the project at this stage is “substantially under” the $1.5 million originally budgeted.

Construction should be substantially complete by Labor Day.

The construction, together with the $8.7 million parking deck that opened in September 2009 on the north side of the area, will complete a long-standing village plan to improve downtown parking on the west side of Milwaukee Avenue.