Carpentersville names canoe launch after lawyer

At long last, a canoe launch is headed for Tim “Mackers” McNamee Park in Carpentersville.

The village board has decided that Gilberts-based Copenhaver Construction will build the launch to be situated along the Fox River between the Main Street Bridge and the East Dundee/West Dundee footbridge. Weather permitting, construction is due to start next week and should conclude by early August, Village Engineer Scott Marquardt said.

The shared launch, which costs $37,080, will serve two functions. In addition to recreational use for private citizens, the Carpentersville Fire Department will use it for boat rescues, Fire Chief John Schuldt said.

With the new water rescue equipment the fire department recently secured, its boats are larger and heavier and difficult to pick up and carry into the water, which is why it needs the concrete launch.

It also will help the fire department save crucial time in emergencies in that area. Because there are no other launches along that section of the river, firefighters are forced to head downstream, then back up to the emergency.

“(The launch) will allow us quick access and quick deployment down to the village limits,” Schuldt said.

The public will only be allowed to launch canoes, kayaks and other small nonmotorized boats that can be carried in and out of the water without benefit of a trailer.

Thom McNamee, a local entrepreneur, donated land for the park in 1998 to honor his slain twin brother, Tim. Thom McNamee also donated $15,000 toward the canoe launch.

He originally envisioned it as a $1 million showpiece to the community that would have included stairs, landscaping and a raised boat dock.

But the project stalled for more than a decade while authorities debated its scope and devised different incarnations, Village President Ed Ritter said. Thom McNamee died in June 2009 of a brain tumor before work began. In November of that year, the village picked up a $10,000 grant from the Kane County Forest Preserve District to help fund the project, and Carpentersville is picking up the balance.

Ritter is delighted to see the project finally come to fruition.

“It's kind of a shame that it took this long,” Ritter said. “It should have been done years ago.”