Prospect Hts. deals with streets, trees
The Prospect Heights City Council Monday awarded a $3.8 million contract for the second phase of road repairs under the $15 million bond issue approved in 2010. Aldermen also approved getting started on studying ash trees and removing those infested by emerald ash borer.
Peter Baker & Sons of Lake Bluff Street won the street repair job with a bid $613,000 under the estimated cost, said Baxter & Woodman, the consulting engineers. Engineering for design and construction will add $383,000.
About 11 miles of streets will be repaired starting in mid-April, Mayor Nick Helmer said. A neighborhood called Countryside west of Elmhurst Road and north of Palatine Road will receive considerable work. Other areas include a section south of Willow Road and west of Elmhurst and a few streets north of Camp McDonald Road and east of Wolf Road.
To help prevent future flooding, funds from the bond issue will pay for cleaning and videotaping sewers to see if any are blocked or collapsed, Helmer said. A third round of street repairs is planned, and money will be set aside for upkeep of city streets, Helmer said.
The city hired Glenwood Tree Experts of Deerfield to remove 10 infested ash trees at $525 per tree. The company will also inventory parkway trees and come up with a management plan for ash trees. The contract totals $20,100, paid for partially with a $14,850 grant from the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus.
Joe Kron, who had served as the city’s arborist, was already scheduled for recall from layoff, said Anne Marrin, city administrator.
A multifamily community named Quincy Park is the only neighborhood in the city that has treated trees at its own expense, Marrin said.
While she said the city has not decided whether to remove and replace trees or treat them, the language in an amendment to the ordinance that previously mentioned only Dutch elm disease deals with the removal of trees affected by emerald ash borer.
City officials do not yet know how many ash trees are in the municipality, she said.