Carol Stream, DuPage County unveil Armstrong Park reservoir project
As a neighborhood near Carol Stream's Armstrong Park cleaned up after a damaging flood, a frustrated homeowner posted a sign on a tree that read, “What are you going to do about this? Nothing.”
Mayor Frank Saverino often tells that story, about how he left a picture of the sign in his phone and ultimately appeared before the DuPage County Board asking for help.
“It killed me because I knew we couldn't do what needed to be done because we didn't have the funds to do that,” Saverino said.
On Wednesday, Saverino joined village and county officials as they unveiled their answer to the problem of flooding in nearby homes: A $12.5 million project that built a pair of reservoirs in Armstrong Park.
“We fought for this project,” said Saverino, who had to overcome some opposition to the cost of the project.
County board Chairman Dan Cronin said DuPage got “very creative and very aggressive” in securing federal dollars that paid for the lion's share of the project. The county kicked in $2.8 million by issuing bonds, and the rest was funded by a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant, part of an initiative that spread about $31 million across DuPage toward disaster recovery, said Kimberly Dana, a program manager for HUD's grant-making arm.
“We put something in here that all of these houses around this area can say to us, 'My house didn't flood,'” she said. “'I didn't have the damages.'”
The village contributed land, the park district shut down Armstrong and the county began the project more than a year ago.
“As you can imagine, space for a large flood-control reservoir is not always easy to come by,” Cronin said. “The county (and) the village were fortunate to have the park district right here that was eager assist in the process.”
Unlike other county facilities, the reservoirs are bowl-shaped because crews had to build up to avoid hitting groundwater, county board member Jim Zay said. The reservoirs can hold up to 37 million gallons.
“That's a big footprint here for this area,” said Zay, who lives in the village and heads the county's stormwater management committee. “And it's going to go a long way to help our residents and help alleviate flooding.”
When Klein Creek overflows, water goes into the smaller reservoir. Pumps — triggered by remote control or manually — churn out gallons from the reservoir into a bigger one. Then, the water funnels into a 60-inch siphon that weaves around the neighborhood and ends behind the Carol Stream Fire Protection District headquarters on Kuhn Road.
Zay acknowledged the park district “took a lot of grief when we started this.” But standing water previously left Armstrong “basically unusable,” he said.
“This will be a great amenity for the park district,” Zay said. “It will be just a first-class park when everything is done.”
What's next? Plans for LED lights, restrooms and a new Kidsworld Playground, among other improvements, said park board President Jackie Jeffery.
“Armstrong Park will soon be the center of Carol Stream recreational activities once again,” she said.