DuPage officials: Vandals sabotaging Carol Stream flood project

Major vandalism is plaguing the site of a multimillion-dollar project to reduce flooding around Carol Stream's Armstrong Park, DuPage County officials say, and it's not just random kids causing the damage.

"This is just not vandalism," county board member Jim Zay said. "This is someone actually trying to sabotage the project."

The $12.5 million project - a joint effort of the county, village and Carol Stream Park District - is roughly 85 percent complete. But for the past three to four months, there's been a rash of vandalism at the construction site in Armstrong Park.

Zay, who is chairman of the county board's stormwater committee, told board members this week that eight trucks belonging to the project's contractor were damaged. An estimated $15,000 in damage has been reported, including broken windshields, doors and lights.

Officials initially didn't know what to make of it.

Then two trees and six bushes disappeared a couple of weeks ago. They eventually were found "neatly lined up perfectly" inside a 60-inch pipe that's supposed to carry floodwater out of the park.

Zay said it appeared to be the work of someone deliberately trying to block the pipe.

"This is someone in the area that doesn't like this (project) for some reason and is taking it out on not only the contractor, but trying to actually block the flow of water out, which hurts the residents in that area and our efforts to control stormwater," Zay said.

Vandals also damaged concrete blocks meant to slow the flow of water in the outlet pipe. "It's like someone was trying to knock those out with a sledgehammer," Zay said.

The county has asked Carol Stream police to investigate. Police Chief Ed Sailer confirmed Wednesday that his department is investigating the incidents, but he didn't provide additional details.

In the meantime, Zay said the county has taken steps to increase security at the site.

"Obviously, we don't want to say what we're doing because we're trying to catch the person," he said.

Officials say police did a robocall to residents in the area surrounding Armstrong Park informing them of what happened and asking them to report any suspicious activity.

Meanwhile, the project could be wrapped up in August.

Once completed, the site will have two reservoirs, officials said. When water rises in nearby Klein Creek, it will spill first into the smaller reservoir, and then a pumping station will move it into the larger one. The water from the larger reservoir will be released through the outlet pipe back into the creek in an area south of Armstrong Park.

Zay said he's hoping it will become difficult for anyone to cause damage once the facility is fully operational.

"Hopefully, people will call if they see anything," he said.