Sleepy Hollow residents unhappy with Jelkes Creek restoration work

Betsy and Kevin Little heard a novel kind of noise coming from their backyard Thursday.

Chain saws.

The Sleepy Hollow couple, who have lived in the village's Bluffs neighborhood for the past eight years, were distressed to find more than a dozen trees being cut down, including a beloved 15-foot blue spruce.

The trees are not technically on the Little's property. It's in Dundee Township's Jelke Creek Bird Sanctuary right next door, which is being restored.

"We're disappointed," Betsy Little said. "Not only was it aesthetically pleasing, but it provided a buffer to the open space. I just don't understand. We're living in a world where we're trying to go green. And here we're chopping trees down."

Restoration work on the bird sanctuary began Tuesday.

According to a Dundee Township news release, the site will be updated with 31/2 new miles of trails, sledding hills and 115 acres of restored prairie. Rock ledges will be added for better access to the area's fishing pond. The site will also have a new entrance leading to a 30-car parking lot.

Funded by a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency and Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, the restoration work will also increase water absorption and produce cleaner groundwater.

Still, some residents say the visual disruption was more than they bargained for.

"These were people that paid lot premiums for these houses - and the views," 16-year resident Diane Holan said. "It's just nice to have the trees there. We enjoyed the wildlife. I'm concerned. Why would you take down trees if you're trying to attract and shelter birds?"

Dundee Township Supervisor Susan Harney said work will include reclaiming the sanctuary's gravel pit area. Cutting down the trees, she said, is necessary to redistribute topsoil.

Harney met with the Sleepy Hollow village board and neighborhood homeowners associations and mailed letters out to residents explaining the work.

Still, she said Thursday, she'd received a number of calls from unhappy residents.

"It's always shocking when this kind of thing happens," Harney said, "but this is for a really great project. The habitat we're going to have out of this is going to be much better. It's not fun. I understand the residents are upset."

Staff photographer Brian Hill contributed to this report.