Park City starts flood mitigation, storm sewer effort
Youngsters in Park City will soon lose their occasional swimming hole, but people from Waukegan to the Gulf of Mexico will benefit as the Park City flood mitigation and storm sewer project begins its first phase near the headwaters of the Skokie River.
“We’ve been waiting for this a long time,” six-term Park City Mayor Steve Pannell said. “The kids in Park City learned to swim on Teske (Boulevard) when it rained.”
Lake County, Park City and state legislative officials broke ground on the $4.2 million first phase of the flood mitigation and storm sewer project Wednesday at Limbrunner Park in Park City, setting in motion an effort benefiting people far beyond the local area.
Kurt Woolford, the executive director of the Lake County Stormwater Management Commission, said the current size of the pipes and other receptacles for rain water are too small, causing backups and serious flooding.
Woolford said there will be bigger pipes and a large rectangular culvert which will store water and control its flow from just south of Belvidere Road to the Greenbelt Forest Preserve in North Chicago. Most of the funding will come from the state.
Controlling the flow of the headwaters of the Skokie River — the North Branch of the Chicago River — will help people well beyond Park City and the Waukegan area. Woolford said it will help reduce flooding along
“All of the stormwater will flow into the Chicago River, the Des Plaines River, the Illinois River into the Mississippi. It will help all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico. One large reservoir is not the answer for this watershed.” — Kurt Woolford, the executive director of the Lake County Stormwater Management Commission
Highway 41 to Lake Cook Road.
“All of the stormwater will flow into the Chicago River, the Des Plaines River, the Illinois River into the Mississippi,” Woolford said. “It will help all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico. One large reservoir is not the answer for this watershed.”
State Sen. Adriane Johnson, D-Buffalo Grove, said for too long Illinois could
not afford large-scale projects like this one in Park City. With five-consecutive balanced budgets, and money appropriated for infrastructure, more funding is available.
Johnson, whose district includes Park City, said reducing the potential of flooding adds a variety of benefits for the residents of northeast Lake County. It assists people in their daily lives and helps businesses function with fewer natural interruptions. “Reliable infrastructure allows residents to move about their communities freely,” Johnson said. “It enables trade,
powers businesses, connects workers to their jobs, creates recreation opportunities and protects neighborhoods from our unpredictable natural environment.”
State Rep. Dan Didich, D-Buffalo Grove, whose district also includes Park City, said when Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the Rebuild Illinois legislation in 2019, it opened the door to projects like this.
Lake County Board member Angelo Kyle, D-Waukegan, who includes Park City residents as his constituents, said the project is the first step to ending the road closings on Belvidere
Road and Washington Street when there is too much rain.
“Washington Street was closed five times in the last eight years because of flooding,” Kyle said. “It was closed for two days in the July 2017 event. This project will give people here one less thing to worry about.”
Susan Novak, the capital improvement program manager for the commission, said the first phase of the project will start in July and should be done by the end of the year.
The $2.6 million second phase is in the project design stage. It is planned for next year.