Winnetka’s $41 million stormwater program is moving forward after receiving unanimous approval from the Village Council at a recent meeting.
Next stop: The court of public opinion.
At their June 11 study session, trustees are expected to discuss their plan for public outreach and how exactly to achieve some sort of consensus of support for the project they have been working on for 18 months.
Though they approved various projects to be included in the $41 million plan, village trustees haven’t authorized construction or incurred any debt, expressing a desire to gather more public input before doing so. It’s not yet clear how trustees intend to measure public support for the plan, but a survey has been mentioned as one possibility.
The $34.5 million Willow Road tunnel, the centerpiece that will divert stormwater east into Lake Michigan to address flooding in five of the village’s drainage areas, is at least four years from becoming a reality. About $7 million in smaller stormwater projects could be built much sooner and funded with capital reserves, village officials have said.
One project in particular, a $4.3 million plan to improve a large watershed in northwest Winnetka, has rankled some. A group of Winnetka residents, banded together as WATER — Winnetkans Acting Together for Equitable Relief — came to the meeting to present a petition with more than 180 signatures protesting the use of reserve funds to finance one neighborhood’s improvements without some assurance of relief for the rest of the village.
Before letting the petitioners speak, Village President Gene Greable delivered his own remarks. He took exception to the implication of favoritism and characterized the petition as an attempt to stop the entire stormwater program.
“This petition is very obviously based on incorrect assumptions and a misunderstanding of the work of this council and its immediate predecessors,” said Greable, who had directed village staff to form an additional written response to the petitioners’ assertions prior to the meeting.
The council’s work in developing a plan for the entire village has been transparent and well-documented, he said.
“We believe that there is already a broad consensus in the village. … The only serious community concern over this program that I have received are that it has been moving too slowly and that its costs be kept as low as possible,” Greable said.
Those in opposition were undeterred. King Poor, a former village trustee, was incensed that Greable made his remarks before hearing the public comment and said the village president inaccurately portrayed the petition’s intent.
“This is not about shutting down this process,” Poor said. “We should be able to ask questions. We’d like to have our say before someone else tells us what we’re saying.”
Poor’s remarks were met with applause by the 15 or so people who came out in support of the WATER cause.
Jim Gordon, who lives on White Oak Lane, dismissed the petition as a political effort to stall the stormwater plan and asserted that the petitioners were largely supporters of former village trustee Chris Rintz, who recently lost the village president election to Greable.
“I think it’s an effort to paralyze this process and continue the political war in this village, and it should be rejected,” Gordon said, addressing the council.
That’s not the case, said Leslie Farmer, who signed the petition. Farmer’s chief concern was the northwest Winnetka project would be green-lit with no assurance that the tunnel — which will provide the most relief to the majority of village properties — would be built.
“As long as we know the tunnel is not going to get sidetracked or hijacked,” she said, “I don’t care if it’s done.”
Those $7 million in smaller projects that could be completed sooner than the tunnel include the controversial northwest Winnetka project, which would improve the stormwater infrastructure on and north of Tower Road, west of Vernon Avenue, including the Forest Glen area; improvements to the Spruce Street outlet in northeast Winnetka; and improvements to the Winnetka Avenue pump station.
No construction has been authorized for any of the work, village officials have said repeatedly, but engineering plans are nearly complete for all of them.
Trustees assured Farmer and the others that the entire $41 million program, including the $34.5 million Willow Road tunnel, would soon be kicked back to the public for review and input before the work would be authorized.
“We’re going to try to approve the whole thing but some will go faster than others,” said Trustee Jack Buck.
Earlier in the meeting, trustees voted to include the Winnetka Avenue underpass as part of the plan. The lone voice of dissent was Trustee Richard Kates, who felt it was too much money for not enough benefit.
The Winnetka Avenue underpass portion of the Willow Road tunnel is projected to cost $4.4 million and is intended to provide some flood relief to New Trier High School and residents of Fuller Lane, Sunset Road, Essex Road and Elder Lane.
For many of those homes, though, Kates said, the source of the flooding is sanitary sewer backup – not overland flooding. He also questioned whether the village should be held responsible for New Trier’s flooding woes.
“Do we have anything from New Trier that shows it’s working to improve its own flooding situation?” Kates asked.
New Trier Superintendent Linda Yonke said the underpass presents major issues for the school when it’s flooded, as it’s one of the primary routes for students and staff.
“When it floods, it greatly inhibits our inability to function,” Yonke said at the council meeting.
New Trier attempted to implement flooding improvements as part of the $174 million bond issue that failed in 2010, Yonke said. But plans for more stormwater retention are still in the works, she said.
Ultimately, the Council approved the full $41 million plan, including the underpass extension.
To fund the program, trustees approved a plan for 30-year bonds that would be repaid with a new stormwater utility fee based on the amount of impervious surface on a given property. The debt will be used to finance the $34.5 million tunnel; the $7 million in smaller projects will be paid for with capital reserve funds that will not be repaid.
The amount each property owner can expect to pay will depend on the impervious surface of the property. One equivalent runoff unit, or ERU, equals 3,400 square feet of impervious surface area. The fee will be about $356 a year per ERU once the debt is fully loaded in fiscal year 2016.
