Winnetka's Conundrum Number One. The water that gives us so much pleasure is the water that crashes through our window wells, gushes from our floor drains, and burns out our backup systems.
And eventually finds its way to the Forest Preserve, dirty and contaminated.
Not good for our wildlife and wetland habitat. Not good for our relationship. Not good for our reputation.
For five years, the Village of Winnetka has worked with the Forest Preserve District of Cook County (FPDCC) to make this right. Greenlight: November 23rd, Village Hall. Winnetka's "Stormwater Management Wetlands Project." Booked and budgeted. All thumbs up.
One giant inter-jurisdictional, intergovernmental, environmentally sustainable, fiscally responsible step for mancave-kind – and the wildlife we care about.
Making it Right, Then Making it Better.
Winners up the whazoo. Winnetka's water-logged residents, the FPDCC, District 36, New Trier School District, the Winnetka Park District, and waterfowl, wildlife, and conservationists throughout Northern Cook County.
The Deal (AKA Memorandum of Understanding):
The FPDCC gets 75.5 acre-feet of reno'd Forest Preserve wetlands – talking an "open water feature," sedge meadow, and enough natural habitat to make Friends of the Forest Preserves', Open Lands', and North Branch Stewards' day.
Winnetka gets a place to put its water...after – underscore – it's collected, stored, and released – squeaky clean.
From land the Village doesn't own.
Horse Trading and Hand Shaking
Read me in? "The Village" doesn't have enough of the right land in the right places. But the Park District, District 36, and New Trier do. Wide-open, just-right-for-engineered-underground-storage land. And projects in need of TLC.
Two years of back-and-forths. The Village gets storage. New Trier gets reno'd playfields with expanded facilities. D36 gets a reno’d playfield and the potential for expansion. And everybody gets generous zoning "considerations" for projects to be named later.
In the mother of all gets, the Park District gets a totally renovated golf course with improved fairways, restored bunkers, and improved grading designed by one of the country’s pre-eminent course designers.
$75.7MM Pricetag. 92.7% in the Boat.
Winnetka is nothing if not self-reliant. This project was going to get done. Financed the usual way – taxes, fees, bonds, all of the above.
But instead, its wide-ranging environmental and infrastructure benefits netted $28MM from the State's $45 Billion-with-a-B Rebuild Illinois Capital Plan, $500K from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD), and $803K from Build Illinois.
Add $29.5MM in "rainy day" transfers from the General, Stormwater, and MFT funds - enough to cover the stormwater detention part of the plan all by itself, according to Village Manager Bahan – and $7.5MM in debt capacity from bond refunding.
That leaves $5.5MM and five years to come up with it.
A 74.5 acre-feet state-of-the-art wetlands reno meets money looking for a good reason. Gotta like the odds.
Projects and Their Pricetags
Check out the Village's how-we-got-here-where-we're-going financing details. Thing of beauty, here you come.
What We're Watching
With COVID, you never know. But that $28MM in “state-appropriated funds” from Rebuild Illinois? It's the law. With earmarks to pay for it (think: sin taxes, title and registration fees). Expect it to come through. Delayed, possibly. Make that, probably.
Winnetka's got two line items on the Rebuild Bill. Passed and prioritized. (We're on page 2,207. You're welcome.) So, in case of that hell hath no fury thing, the Village still has that $29.5MM cash on hand to jump-start the project. And lawyers.
$75.7MM is in today’s dollars. Interest rates meet inventory, tax hikes, and wage increases. We've got you covered, say the estimators and their estimators: 30% contingency’s “unusually high.”
Term limits of the people who signed the MOU. How gentlemanly (people-ly?) do the players-to-be-named-later have to be? Bets are good, sentiments for waterfowl and wildflowers, being what they are.
Maintenance. The Village is thinking $50K or so every 5-6 years to remove street junk and other detritus from underground storage tanks.
Confab with the Army Corps of Engineers. Next and final step. Then it's back to the FPDCC to turn the MOU with any revisions and clarifications into an IGA (Intergovernmental Agreement). If we pass muster with the Corps. Attention!
My street will be dug up when...?
Public works is bracing to feel your pain. They will issue timetables, flood your inbox with alerts, and if they’re smart – and brave – establish a hot-line. You will be forewarned. Forearmed is up to you.
Greenlight: Spring 2022. Fall 2021, says President Rintz, valiantly attempting to get government to work at the speed of life.
In the Meantime...
Eventually, there will be a new normal. Mancaves will return to their former best selves as preferred venues for game days and movie nights. Until then, there's this.
Winnetka Forest Preserve MOU – The Handshake
Rebuild Illinois – The Overview
Rebuild Illinois Bill Mark-Up – note, we're on page 2,207.
Lest you think this is a West/Southwest Winnetka Problem, here's The Village's Stormwater Master Plan including 5 years of Village one-offs, and the tunnel-no-more.
Bookmark this webpage – updates will be posted here.
Going through post-Augusta withdrawal? Here's your Winnetka Golf Course reno geek-out. Part 1 and Part 2. We aim to please. To add your attaboy -
President Rintz – Crintz@Winnetka.org
Manager Bahan – contactus@winnetka.org
Trustee Cripe – point person for Stormwater negotiations – acripe@winnetka.org