Lake Zurich board accepts flood plan

Money remains the final hurdle to a final engineering plan devised to help residents in two flood-prone subdivisions on Lake Zurich's east side.

Lake Zurich village board members Monday evening voted to accept the plan to increase storage capacity of a detention pond that collects stormwater for the Cedar Creek and Bristol Trail subdivisions.

Vernon Hills-based Manhard Consulting Inc. crafted what officials consider to be a plan that's ready to roll when the village has enough money to pay the construction costs.

Manhard proposes that the bottom of a detention basin area be deepened by 5 to 6 feet to protect against a theoretical 100-year, 24-hour rainfall. Cost projections run from $1.32 million to $2.4 million, with the ultimate cost hinging on per-cubic-yard prices for excavation and hauling of the material.

Construction could begin within 14 weeks of funding approval, said engineer Peter Stoehr.

Mayor Thomas Poynton acknowledged the financial challenge ahead for the village to move on the project.

"The bugaboo here is the funding source," Poynton said.

"We knew that going into this, but it looks like if and when funding ever does come, it's still going to take us 14 more weeks, which is not too bad, actually."

Other proposed work to alleviate stormwater flooding would include planting low-maintenance, native prairie-style vegetation.

Flooding at Cedar Creek and Bristol Trail became a bigger issue June 26, 2013, when 6.63 inches of rain quickly fell on Lake Zurich.

That rain total, as reported by the National Weather Service, made Lake Zurich one of the hardest-hit communities in the Northwest suburbs.

Much of the severe flooding was in a 2-square-mile area near Stone Avenue and Thistle Lane in Cedar Creek, just north of Bristol Trail Road and west of Quentin Road.