Kane forest deals will advance efforts to remove dam, causeway

Progress toward removing the Carpentersville Dam and Fabyan Forest Preserve Causeway in Geneva will come, as Kane County Forest Preserve District officials moved toward renewing a $3.5 million agreement with the state to fund both projects.

A committee of forest preserve district commissioners voted this week to lock into a three-year renewal of a deal first inked in 2015. The agreement with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources provides for state funding that would cover the entire costs of the engineering, dam removal and shore stabilization.

Of the original $3.5 million, the district already received $500,000 for the engineering needed for the Fabyan causeway removal. That engineering is now complete. The project will go to bid this spring.

The district already spent $75,000 on the engineering and permits. Projections show the overall cost of removing the causeway will be about $1.7 million.

The district is not as far along in its work to remove the Carpentersville Dam.

Extending the agreement through 2020 would see the state commit to the remaining $3 million of funding needed to remove the Carpentersville dam, including $500,000 upfront for engineering. District staff said the engineering process will likely eat up the extension, requiring a third installment of the agreement.

It's at that point the project would be ready to go out for constructions bids and actual removal. The engineering should have begun under the first agreement, but funds at both the district and state levels were not available to move the process along.

Dam removals are somewhat controversial, but environmentalists generally agree eliminating them upgrades the ecosystem, improves water quality and provides for safer recreational activities on the water. The agreement between the forest district and state even refers to the dams as "river obstructions."

There are also possible tourism and economic benefits. St. Charles, for instance, may eliminate its dam on the Fox River to create a family splash pad and make accommodations for kayaking and rafting activities.

Many of the dams on the Fox River were built in the early 1900s to control water levels or to provide fuel for hydroelectric power. Those are no longer functional uses for most of the dams.

The full forest preserve commission will vote on extending the deal with the state on Feb. 13.