Lake Ellyn boathouse renovations could start this fall

Renovations to Lake Ellyn - starting with the quaint, historic boathouse - will begin this fall, more than 2½ years after consultants unveiled a long-term blueprint to upgrade the neighborhood park.

At their Sept. 1 meeting, Glen Ellyn Park District commissioners plan to approve 21 bids from contractors expected to cost a total of $2.96 million.

The board on Tuesday pledged to stick to that budget, which is in its reserves, despite calls by two board members to spend about $216,000 more on the project. That money would have paid for replacing sidewalks with permeable pavers around the central corridor of the park. The new paths also would have pushed the total cost up to almost $3.2 million.

Commissioner Jay Kinzler said the pavers are "not a necessity."

"And unfortunately, I feel that we're probably going to end up spending the money somewhere else anyway," said Kinzler, pointing to unforeseen costs that may pop up during construction.

While she said she was "allergic" to the extra expenses, Commissioner Kathy Cornell said during an informal straw poll the park district could afford to put in the new paths. The district's financial planners also have said the work could be paid for with existing funds.

Commissioner Melissa Creech said it didn't make sense to tear up the area leading to the boathouse again and supported laying down the pavers, designed to help the ground absorb floodwaters.

"Certainly the pavers look really nice, and they have some stormwater benefits," she said.

The district should begin "serious discussions" about fixes to the rest of the park's trail system, Creech added.

With that in mind, the board, as part of its annual budget talks, will create a plan to address the path that surrounds the man-made lake with a history of overflowing.

To put in pavers just on the park's west side - near the Glenbard West High School football field to Essex Road - would cost about $416,000, Executive Director Dave Harris said.

In the short term, the district likely will begin the improvements to Lake Ellyn in mid-September. Before crews can break ground, however, the district needs to get the OK from the village board. Glen Ellyn trustees are set to review the designs in early September, said Harris, who expects all the upgrades to be done by Fourth of July 2016.

The first phase will focus on the boathouse's exterior, and then crews will move inside the one-story structure during the winter. The goal is to restore the boathouse to what it once looked like in 1937, when it was originally built, and to shore up its future. The project also will replace the roof and build a wall around three sides to protect the boathouse from flooding. A stand-alone bathroom will be built near the playground. The park district originally wanted to replace the playground equipment but opted to defer that work after a state grant was suspended.