Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug. Sometimes it all comes together...
- "The Bug"
Mark Knopfler, 1992
On Wednesday, July 13th. 4:00 PM, Little Duke Field, It all came together. Winnetka's Stormwater Solution finally went shovel to dirt. Winnetka, bugged no more.
A Century of Problems – Decades of Attempts – 11 Years of Deals.
Finally, the End of our Rain-soaked, Waterlogged Lives.
It rains. But in Winnetka, the perfect storm of climate change, unfortunate geography, and infrastructure in need of some love made our little piece of heaven a place you just didn't want to be when the skies darkened and Weather Bug got antsy.
ICYMI -
July 23rd, 2016 – 5” in 6 hours
April 8, 2013 – 3.5” in 12 hours (ground was saturated. Water went overland.)
July 22&23, 2011 – 6.49” in 3.5 hours
September 13-15, 2008 – 8.19” in 36 hours
August 2, 2002 – 5.44” in 6 hours
It's the kind of rain that crashed through window wells, gushed from floor drains, burned out backups, and made paddling puppies and kids in kayaks way less charming than you might think.
It's Called Crow Island.
Winnetka – especially West and Southwest Winnetka – has been water-challenged for at least a century. (If you moved here within the past 5 years, trust us.) Stuff's been tried, the most ambitious – and recent – of which was a plan to dump the top, and dirtiest, 2" of our stormwater run-off into Lake Michigan via an 8-foot-diameter tunnel. Scrapped for the obvious, the Village Council set its sights west. And sent then-Trustee Rintz to check the pulse of the Cook County Forest Preserve.
Deals, Dominos, Deliverables.
Wondering what took so long? Dominos with deal-loving decision-makers.
Connections met curiosity. After months of our knock-knock-knocking, the Cook County Forest Preserve (CCFP) opened the door. A crack. Had conditions. Had needs. Clean your water and we'll see what you can do for us.
A man on a mission met engineers with cred for clean water. After 18 months of analysis and resident interviews, Strand and Associates delivered 129 pages of a cost-conscious, environmentally responsible "elegant plan" to capture, store, cleanse, and release it into the Skokie Lagoons and eventually, the Forest Preserve. Using gravity. And pipes. (No new pumps. They break, and cost.) And above- and underground storage.
Winnetka's built out – no land to store anything anywhere. But New Trier, D36 School District, and New Trier had lots of it. Just right for engineered storage. And needs. More knocking. More see-what-you-can-do-for-us's.
Back to CCFP with proof of concept. Good faith effort met good faith handshake [AKA MOU]. Lock it in and we'll look again.
Two storms and hundreds of miffed residents later, the locals tee'd up their to-dos and were ready to talk.
Two more years of intergovernmental back-and-forths. Eventually, New Trier got a reno'd playfields with expanded facilities, D36 got a reno'd playfield, potential for expansion, potential zoning relief. And in the mother-of-all gets, the Winnetka Park District got a reno'd golf course with improved fairways, restored bunkers, improved grading designed by one fo the country's best course designers.
Ducks in a row, back to the CCFP. Signed, sealed, and eventually to be delivered: A state-of-the-art wetland, including an "open water feature," sedge meadow, and wildlife and environmental protections up the whazoo. A monumental intergovernmental agreement, the likes of which Cook County may never have seen before.
And the money...? No buzz-kill there.
$75.7MM Pricetag. 92.7% of it in the Boat.
$5.5MM to go, five years to get it, and a vow to "leave no stone unturned." Our money's on the guy who rode this for 11 years.
Not Just a West/Southwest Winnetka Problem.
You may not live there, but a lot of your stuff is on the other side of that standing two feet of H2O. Think: School, summer camp, errands, the office. If you can't get there, you can't get it done.
Fixes for the Rest of Town.
Waiting for The Solution, the Village one-offed like crazy. That infrastructure in need of some love? Found it in the $16.5MM use-it-or-lose-it Stormwater Utility Fund.
Ash Street got a pump station to help move water from the Ash/Hibbard neighborhood.
Spruce Street got two outlets – at Tower and Maple – to reduce flooding in NE Winnetka.
Greenwood/Forest Glen got a new storm sewer system that relieved overland flooding and helped drain NW Winnetka.
Boal Parkway got a new pump station that helped relieve its flooding and ponding.
Lincoln Avenue parking lot got permeable pavers that helped reduce flooding on Lincoln Avenue.
The Village's sewer and manhole system was relined making the entire system less "leaky."
The Village reinstated incentives for residential backflow prevention and overhead sewers.
Patience, W/SW. Your ship has finally come in.
Bye-Bye Stanley Steamer – Hello Game-Day, Movie-Night-Ready Mancave.
It's out there – another storm-with-our-name-on-it. But with the upstream fixes in place, only W/SW's water will be W/SW's problem.
Once this project is done, even that water will get gone quicker and more completely. (And according to the Village Engineers, more cost-effectively and relatively maintenance-free minus periodic cleaning and rodding, and filter checks.)
As long as your own stuff's in order, flooded-basement-generated curb trash will be a part of somebody else's script.
Eyes on the Prize.
The project is "expected to take several years." But if Prez Rintz and Co can spend 11 years getting this far, who can't take a breath to bring it home? NTL, the Village feels your pain and sends this:
What's being done, and what to expect. For the life of the project. Most of all, when your street – or one you need – will be dug up.
(Psst: If the code doesn't work for you, bookmark the Village's construction updates.)
Feeling an "Attaboy?"
Prez Rintz would be the first to admit he didn't fly solo. Trustee Cripe was also on-point. And the rest of the Village Council had their backs.
Feeling a little "attaboy?" Here you go:
A la carte: