Lake Zurich village board approves more engineering work for flood-prone area
Lake Zurich trustees have agreed to pay for engineering design work as part of an effort to stem flooding on the village's east side.
Vernon Hills-based Manhard Consulting Inc.'s design duties will address a proposal to increase storage capacity of a detention pond that collects stormwater for the flood-prone Cedar Creek subdivision. Village board members approved the deal with Manhard at a meeting Monday night.
Manhard won't receive more than $36,800 for the design services. Lake Zurich previously paid $37,900 to Manhard for a drainage study that recommends the bottom of Cedar Creek's detention basin be deepened by more than 5 feet to protect against a theoretical 100-year, 24-hour rainfall.
It would cost about $2.95 million for a flood-control project to benefit Cedar Creek and the nearby Bristol Trail subdivision on Lake Zurich's east side, according to a Manhard report issued in March.
Although village officials have yet to determine how the nearly $3 million construction tab would be paid, Trustee Jim Beaudoin said it makes sense to start with the design work for the Cedar Creek detention pond. Similar engineering services would be needed for a pond that collects stormwater for Bristol Trail.
"We have a proposal that would be shovel ready, if you will," Beaudoin said.
Flooding at Cedar Creek and Bristol Trail became an issue June 26, 2013, when 6.63 inches of rain quickly fell on Lake Zurich. That rain total, as reported by the National Weather Service, made Lake Zurich one of the hardest-hit communities in the Northwest suburbs.
Much of the severe flooding was in a 2-square-mile area near Stone Avenue and Thistle Lane in Cedar Creek, just north of Bristol Trail Road and west of Quentin Road.
Cedar Creek resident Dave Wlodarczyk, who lives on Stone Avenue, told the village board Monday that water continues to be a problem there. He also questioned whether village government representatives are listening to the residents' concerns.
"The politics here, gentlemen, are killing us, and we need to move forward," Wlodarczyk said.
Mayor Thomas Poynton said no one has forgotten about the flood-prone residential areas.
"The politics of the situation is money," Poynton said. "It's nothing else. There's no skulking around or doing anything. We feel your pain (in Cedar Creek). We've felt it since June 26 of last year."
If Lake Zurich pursues the $2.95 million flood-control proposal outlined by Manhard, the storage capacity of two detention ponds that collect stormwater would be increased.