Spot Check: Stormwater Relief is (finally) on the Books.
Win-Win Wetlands, Wildlife and Water-Logged Winnetkans.
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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.
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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.
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Making it Right, Then Making it Better. |
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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 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.
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Horse Trading and Hand Shaking |
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"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.
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$75.7MM Pricetag. 92.7% in the Boat. |
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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.
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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.
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Projects and Their Pricetags |
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Check out the Village's how-we-got-here-where-we're-going financing
details. Thing of beauty, here you come.
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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.
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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!
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My street will be dug up when...? |
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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.
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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.
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 -
PSA: April showers bring more than spring flowers. How's your Emergency Preparedness Plan going? Try this, And this. Compliments of Village Hall.
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Remember, everyone you know is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. |
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YourWinnetka is a non-partisan information-services organization based in Winnetka, IL
and dedicated to the belief that informed residents make for better government.
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