Mount Prospect agrees to additional spending on flood relief projects
Mount Prospect will spend an additional $257,000 on engineering work for stormwater detention improvements at Aspen Trails Park, one of three Levee 37-related projects aimed at relieving flooding in the northeast part of town.
Public Works Director Sean Dorsey said the area has been experiencing flooding due to high Des Plaines River levels and more frequent heavy rains.
One of the pieces in the puzzle, a detention basin at Burning Bush Trails Park, is basically complete, he said. The work has been brought in for $4.1 million, under the $4.4 million budget. The village secured a $1.3 million grant from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago to help defray the cost.
Another piece is the improvement of Pump Station 2. Dorsey said he expects the Army Corps of Engineers to open bids for the project this week.
At last week's village board meeting, trustees approved paying Christopher B. Burke Engineering Ltd. up to an additional $257,800 for the work on the third piece at Aspen Trails.
"This is a significant flood control improvement that we've been working on for the better part of two years, and this is necessary work to complete the project to finally hopefully have a design and a budget to move forward, if all goes well next year," Village Manager Michael Cassady said.
As with the Burning Bush project, the Aspen Trails project is part of an intergovernmental agreement with the River Trails Park District. It will involve the construction of an underground storage system with vaults underneath and the park overhead, Dorsey said.
He said the village shied away from an open basin concept when it realized "it would be wet much more often, for example, than Burning Bush would be, meaning that it wouldn't be as available for play for the park district."
The overall costs range from $7.7 million to $14 million.
The village has received a letter from the water reclamation district indicating it will receive a grant for the project, he said, but it is still unclear how big the award will be. Dorsey said the village asked for $3 million.
The village also is seeking grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Rebuild Illinois program.