Naperville parks plans erosion control work

With 33 retention ponds and 47 dry detention basins, Naperville Park District has plenty of shoreline to care for.

In a project this summer, the district plans to restore the eroding shore of one such pond in a south Naperville park, said Eric Shutes, director of planning.

The park board on Thursday is set to consider a $65,625 contract with Midwest Ecological Inc. of Gilberts to regrade the shoreline of the westernmost retention pond at Clow Creek Greenway at 4588 Pradel Drive.

Shutes said the work will include removing invasive plants, flattening the steepness of the soil heading into the pond and planting native vegetation to hold the soil in place. The work will help prevent the soil from further sliding into the pond, making it shallower and less effective as a stormwater storage space.

The district received bids from eight other contractors seeking to perform the work for between $74,843 and $236,000.

Midwest Ecological's offer beat the second-lowest bid by $9,281, and the company also has experience restoring other ponds owned by the park district, including those in Ashbury, May Watts and Rock Ridge parks and Westglen Commons.

The shoreline restoration project is part of a plan the park district developed to prioritize maintenance and repairs to all of the wet and dry water storage areas among its 2,400 acres.

Baileywood Park saw such work last year. The western side of Clow Creek Greenway, which was conveyed to the park district by a developer in 2002, is set to take its turn this summer, pending park board approval of the contract.

The park board is set to vote on the contract during a meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the multipurpose room of the Fort Hill Activity Center at 20 Fort Hill Drive.