North Cook News

Village of Wilmette President and Board of Trustees met April 17.

Here is the minutes provided by the Board:

Members Present:

President Bob Bielinski

Trustees Julie Wolf

Daniel Sullivan

Senta Plunkett

Kathy Dodd

Joel Kurzman

Staff Present: Timothy Frenzer, Village Manager

Michael Braiman, Assistant Village Manager

Brigitte Berger-Raish, Director of Engineering & Public Works

Melinda Molloy, Finance Director

Dan Manis, Village Engineer

John Prejzner, Assistant Director of Administrative Services

Guests Present Joe Johnson, Stantec

I. Call to Order

President Bielinski called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.

II. Discussion and Determination of Path Forward Regarding Storm

Sewer System Improvements

President Bielinski outlined the process for the evening, noting the Village Board would vote on a path to go forward and provide staff with direction.

Ms. Berger-Raish introduced the consultants present this evening; Joe Johnson and Tara Novotny from Stantec, Dave Buckley and Thomas Burke from Christopher B. Burke Engineering, and Mike Young from RJN Engineering.

Ms. Berger-Raish said the official storm water study began in 2013 but the Village has been studying stormwater and sewer issues previous to that. Since 2007 the Village has spent a lot of time focusing on sanitary sewer issues in west Wilmette, in particular the Village Board approved a Capital Improvement Program of approximately $24 million to invest in the performance of the sanitary sewer system. Since that investment, the Village has turned its focus to stormwater, and in 2013 hired Christopher Burke Engineering to perform a hydraulic analysis and complete modeling of the stormwater system west of Ridge Road. In 2015 that report was delivered to the Village Board and since 2015 the costs that were associated were with the solutions identified in the Christopher Buke report were quite expensive, so the Village Board thought it would be prudent to have a second look at the study. A second independent engineering consultant was hired, Stantec, to review the technical aspects of the report, the cost estimates and one last look at all the alternatives possible to try to mitigate flooding in west Wilmette. The Village has narrowed down nine possible alternatives to three options in December 2017. Since December staff has been engaging in a very robust public engagement campaign with the goal to reach as many Wilmette residents as possible.

Ms. Berger-Raish said there is not one single reason why there is wide spread flooding in west Wilmette. Topography is a primary reason as west Wilmette basically sits in a large drainage bowl and we rely on the pump station to pump all of that stormwater out of west Wilmette and get it to the North Branch of the Chicago River. There is no emergency overflow route for that water to drain naturally. Also, west Wilmette is highly developed and there is very limited open green space. At the time the stormwater system was developed, there were no comprehensive stormwater management techniques or plans to develop that system and as a result, it is undersized and is capable of serving a two year storm.

Ms. Berger-Raish said the three options being considered this evening are 1) Sewer expansion, 2) Sewer expansion plus neighborhood storage (also known as the hybrid option), and 3) neighborhood storage. A fourth option would be no major improvements. The projects that will be discussed this evening are designed for a 10 year storm event. She reviewed each option, their costs and effectiveness. If the Village were to proceed with a project, they would issue a 30 year bond to finance the project and the noted the incremental costs to a sewer and water bill over time.

Ms. Berger-Raish said staff is looking for direction on which project, if any, the Village Board would like to pursue and if they would like a project built as quickly as possible or prefer to phase it over a number of years. The motion they would anticipate, if appropriate, would be to direct staff to prepare a request for proposal to enter into a preliminary engineering design agreement. If there is a motion to move forward with one of the options, staff would move forward with talking to the Park District, and prepare the requests for proposal which they would hope to have awarded in late summer and could conceivably be under construction fall of 2019.

Trustee Dodd asked if we had already had discussions with the Park District regarding the options.

Village Manager Timothy Frenzer said on a staff level, they have had informal conversations with the Park District staff but up to this point they have not known what plan the Village Board will consider.

Ms. Berger-Raish noted that all of the storage facilities would be underground and expect the restoration of the parks to be what is seen today at West Park.

President Bielinski asked if the Trustees had any questions for Mr. Johnson with Stantec.

Trustee Wolf asked how green infrastructure would be integrated with the planning process.

Mr. Johnson said anytime the Village is embarking on a major infrastructure project, it is a great opportunity to evaluate how we may be able to incorporate green infrastructure into the project in a beneficial way. At the same time it is important to understand it would be a compliment to the other work that is going on.

Trustee Plunkett asked for the purpose of the relief sewers in addition to the neighborhood storage option.

Mr. Johnson said in order for water detention to be effective, we have to be able to move water from the low points to the storage and so the trunk sewers that are included in neighborhood storage, generally run from an identified low point that is a flooding problem area, and move the water to the storage.

Trustee Wolf said she was involved with the planning of the West Park storage and it was for a sanitary sewer but there was a system to rinse it out after it had been used and wondered if that would be included in any of the proposed neighborhood storage tanks.

Mr. Johnson said that would be something they would look at in the preliminary engineering and design but he would expect that to be so.

Trustee Dodd said there are also some relief sewers proposed that would not be going to storage facilities and asked why they were in the maps.

Mr. Johnson said the western part of the west side of Wilmette as you approach the Edens Expressway is the low lying area, and there is no storage project in that area and yet that is an area that is most prone to flooding so in conjunction with the storage projects in the neighborhood storage alternative, there is some conveyance sewers put in there to take those low points and drain them down to the existing trunk sewer in Wilmette Avenue.

President Bielinski said if that would work in that area would it be possible to do the same in the Locust Road area given where they are in the models today.

Mr. Johnson said he believes that could possibly work. He is very confident that they have exhausted the type of alternatives that could address this problem in west Wilmette but it may be possible depending on the cost.

Ms. Berger-Raish said that would be another item that they would add. If the Village Board selects neighborhood storage, they could add that to the preliminary engineering to look at the scope of the project to see if storage areas could be enlarged or downstream pipes enlarged to pick up those additional areas. There would be a decision point whether they would take that information back to the Village Board or Municipal Services Committee to make the decision on whether to spend additional money and what protection that would have.

Trustee Plunkett said she knows what neighborhood storage is but in speaking to residents the question came up regarding how long the water is in the storage, how long it takes for the water to drain out, and how it would function with back to back rain events.

Mr. Johnson said neighborhood storage is extra volume in the system that can be retained for a period of time and release it out slowly to reduce the impact of the flow downstream. Typically, a 3 hour storm would result in storage facilities filling up and then draining out over a period of eight to seventeen hours, depending on the magnitude of the storm. The question of back to back storms is valid because of the storage facility is partially full and there is another storm, then the effectiveness is reduced. In reviewing rainfall data for the past 60 years, they found that it is very rare to have 2 1⁄2 inches of rain on one day and that much rain again on the next day.

Trustee Plunkett asked what the draw down time would be for a 10 year storm. Ms. Berger-Raish said she believes it is nine hours.

Trustee Kurzman said when a storage tank is releasing 24 hours after a rain event, will access to the stormwater system, closer to the outfall, be affected.

Mr. Johnson said while it would use some capacity after the storm has passed the pipes drain back down.

President Bielinski asked what you would have to do to retain the optionality of the sewer expansion project and the neighborhood storage projects.

Mr. Johnson said the projects are relatively compatible.

President Bielinski asked if there were pipes involved in both projects that would not have to be built twice.

Ms. Berger-Raish said the Wilshire Drive section would have to increase from a 30 in to 48 inch pipe if you wanted to build conveyance at a later date which would cost $200,000. The Washington Avenue pipe between Lamon and Lavergne would have to be increased from a 24” pipe to 108” pipe at an approximate cost of $1.7 million.

Trustee Wolf asked if there would be additional storage in the Washington Avenue pipe since it is going from a 24” to 108” pipe.

Mr. Johnson said there would be some benefit from having a little extra storage in that area but there would have to be thought given to the engineering design of the larger pipe and storage in that area.

Trustee Kurzman asked if we would be limiting ourselves to 10 year flood in 30 years from now by doing that.

Mr. Johnson said in west Wilmette, we are limited by the capacity of the stormwater pumping station so we can only pump out to the river so much water.

Trustee Kurzman asked if the options are interchangeable, he wants to be sure we are not just keeping it in these hypothetical discussions to 10 year flood protection.

Mr. Johnson said there was a few analyses done that took Option 1 and added the neighborhood storage alternative onto it and they believed it would provide between a 25 and 50 year level of protection which would cost approximately $130 million today.

Trustee Dodd said in looking at the neighborhood storage tanks, is the size of the tanks based on the location or size of the storm and would they be able to be expanded.

Mr. Johnson said they did look at how much space was available to determine the size of the storage tanks. He noted the smaller the footprint of the location, the deeper the tank has to go and that would increase the cost.

Dave Burke, Christopher Burke Engineering, said initially they designed the underground storage tanks for the 10 year storm to keep the volume below the street level elevation, so those basins all drain by gravity. If they were to move to a pump option, they could lower the basins in the future but there is a cost associated with moving from gravity to a pump option basin.

Trustee Plunkett asked Mr. Johnson to briefly explain why we are now discussing a storage tank at the Community Playfield as opposed to previously proposed Centennial Park.

Mr. Johnson said a question came up at the open house regarding keeping the prairie at Centennial Park which would make the site constrained and the more difficult a site is, it tends to drive the cost up. One of the other considerations was that the ground elevation at Centennial is higher and they would have to dig down deeper which would increase the cost. There are some challenges to the Community Playfield also, as it is not easily accessible.

Trustee Dodd said residents have also asked what they could do on their own property to help with flooding.

Ms. Berger-Raish said there are general good housekeeping that residents can do to protect their home from high ground water, adjacent flooding or low lying areas. Residents can put in foundation drains tied to a sump pump with discharge far enough away from the foundation, making sure downspouts are splashed away from your foundation, making sure the grade around your property drains away from the foundation. If there are cracks in the foundation or walls, the foundation can be flood proofed, and window wells should be free from seepage.

Trustee Dodd as we think about the different options, is it true that in the areas we are doing neighborhood storage, that would be very close to an effective solution as conveyance, in the areas we would be doing it.

Ms. Berger said that was the intent for a 10 year storm.

President Bielinski said the Village Board has been discussing stormwater issues for the past five years and every question has been asked and answered. The primary purpose this evening is for the Village Board to come to a determination.

Melinda Molloy, Finance Director, said they have gone through extensive discussions in terms of the different projects and what the potential cost might be and also tried to give a framework of what these costs might look like within the larger contexts of the Village, the services it provides and the revenue it collects.

Trustee Sullivan said the Village has done well coming out of the recession and there is a vibrancy that we are seeing. The numbers we are seeing increasing from a revenue standpoint outside of the property tax are sales and permits. He said this year we have lost a major sales tax contributor with Imperial Motors closing and it has also been made public that Carson’s will be leaving and they are a significant contributor to sales tax. The other thing that is concerning to him is the debt service. He asked what other major projects outside of sewers are going to impact the Village’s debt load.

Ms. Molloy said we have significant investments to make in the Water Plant, and we also have an aged Police Station that we have talked about for many years which combined will be another $50 million in debt.

Trustee Sullivan said hopefully the way we have structured the debt, we will not have to over tax the residents.

Ms. Molloy said the debt is structured so that as we roll off the debt service that would be going to service the debt service on a new Police Station and the other portion was going to go to the road program.

Trustee Sullivan said if we add on $100 million to our debt service, we are essentially doubling our debt service and we would have to look at approximately a 10% tax increase.

Ms. Molloy said it could possibly be at that level depending on how we do the issuance and what the rates would be. She would not advocate that we do this issuance on our property tax for the reasons we have discussed before.

Trustee Sullivan said in putting it altogether, it is a big increase and we are going to make Wilmette expensive no matter which project we decide on. He also noted that our pensions are State mandated and have to be fully funded by 2040 and they go up every year. The numbers concern him as the only option is to increase the tax levy and how do we absorb another $50 to $100 million in debt.

President Bielinski said residents often express concern regarding all the taxing bodies in the Village raising the tax levy every year and possibly be making the Village unaffordable.

Trustee Sullivan said it is important to note that our expenses are out pacing our revenue although we are in good times right now, but we all know good times run in cycles and how do we handle that, especially if we start to lose sales tax and permits.

Trustee Plunkett said of our current $83 million debt, what number is attributable to sewers.

Ms. Molloy said of the $83 million, the total amount that is for water/sewer is approximately $49 million and the sewer is $36 million.

President Bielinski asked if there was anyone present to address the Village Board.

Ben Tolsky, 339 Lamon, said he has an issue with the definitions of the 10 through 100 year storms as they were determined in the 1970’s. He said this is not a green project and he believes the water should be pumped back into the lake where it belongs rather than in the river which would then make it a green project.

Ryrie Pellaten, 1115 Lake Avenue, said he is concerned when and how the Village is going to talk to the Park District about their plans to use Park District facilities for storage as it will concern the residents who live around those parks.

Kevin Lubawski, 2433 Iroquois, said he recommends voting for Option 1. He asked if the Board had considered sharing restoration and excavation costs with utilities that also want to update in the area.

Wendy Schultz, Beechwood Avenue, said has been coming to all the meetings for the past five years. She would like to see the Village Board implement a solution to see to fruition. She believes it is important for the Board to choose a project that can be completed in a quicker time frame rather than a longer time frame and she likes that some of the options have a plug and play option.

Jordan Fitchev, 423 Wilshire Drive, said he appreciates hearing the longer term perspective of what the financial ability of Wilmette realistically is. He would like to talk about Option 1 but it only makes sense to talk about the other options if you can afford to do the project at all, keep people happy and if the benefits outweigh the cost and if the Village Board does find that it is reasonable in the long term plan to go forward with one of these options. He would like to discuss Option 1 in the sense that the Village has a basic responsibility to provide a minimal level of service to all of its residents. He urged the Board to strongly consider Option 1.

Davida Fruchter, 3239 Central Avenue, said she has also attended all the meetings about stormwater. She agrees with the previous gentleman and urges the Village Board to vote for Option 1.

Celiza Braganca, 2125 Washington Avenue, said she agrees with what the last two speakers said.

Chuck Garrett, 2224 Kenilworth Avenue, said he would like to have a solution and wants the Village to spend our money very wisely. One of the things that concerns him most is that there is a problem to solve. The problem he has seen on his street has been the flooding of basements from back up of the sewer system up through floor drains in the basement. He believes the Village needs to address both storm and sanitary sewers and can we do it correctly. He would consider Option 1 but wonders if it will be enough and if there will be professional liability to the engineers who design the project.

Sheryl Katz, 740 Lacrosse Avenue, said she has lived through all of the storms and would like to see the Village Board consider Option 1. She believes our reputation as a Village determine our property values and we need to fix the flooding problem to protect our reputation and preserve the character of Wilmette.

Charles Katz, 740 Lacrosse Avenue, said he believes if the Village does not fix the water issue right now, the problem will not go away and residents will be back.

Raquel Klibanoff, 428 Wilshire Drive, East, urged the Village Board to vote for Option 1. The Village has already spent over $800,000 on engineering studies by multiple engineering firms and they all agree Option 1 is the best plan to provide 10 storm protection throughout the west side. She believes providing 10-year storm protection to residents is a basic infrastructure requirement and believes it is one of the primary duties of the Village as a whole.

Karleen McAllester, 323 Wilshire Drive, thanked everyone who came out tonight to make their voices heard, 870 people who reported to Wilmette their flooding issues and those who took the time to email their option requests. She wanted to emphasize thinking about the big numbers regarding the amount of water from flooding. She does not believe neighborhood storage is equivalent to conveyance, she believes it is essential to get the storm trunk built. She believes if the Village Board does not select Option 1, they should select Option 2 to at least have the full size trunk and conceivably keep adding on to it.

Eunice Shapiro, 416 Wilshire Drive West, said she has flooded for the 40 years she has lived in her house. She recommended spending the extra money now to take care of the problem. She thanked everyone for their effort and sincere work.

Bobby Largay, 1217 Dartmouth, said he would like to clarify that the park will look the same if a storage tank is put in Thornwood Park.

John Anderson, 227 Greenleaf, said he has worked on water management issues for a long time and there are innovations that are out there in water storage. He said intelligently managed storage is a way to optimize performance and economics and he has shared this information with staff. He encourages looking at a storage solution and use the innovation that is out there for better performance with new technologies.

Bob Davis, Kilpatrick Avenue, said he has walked around his neighborhood and received comments from his neighbors about stormwater. He said there has been comments from some neighbors to launch a class action suit and he does not want to see the Village spend money on that when we should be spending it on the sewers. He urged the Village Board to choose a conveyance option, he would prefer Option 1 but understands Option 2. Most importantly for him, we should get the engineering going and take advantage of any grant programs that are available.

Jim Lyman, 630 8th Street, said he would like the Village Board to make sure that they listened to Trustee Sullivan as he thought the points he made were excellent. To him the biggest issue facing the Village as well as the County and the State going forward are tax levies we are facing.

Mike Milnik, Kilpatrick Avenue, said he has been through a few storm events and some flooding. After the first flood he had, he installed a flood control unit that cost him $6,000 to $7,000 and it has prevented any further damage to him home. He is concerned with the tax ramifications of the options and wants to make the Village affordable to everyone.

Chris Tucker, 420 Brookside, said he likes Option 1.

Carl Hopman, 311 Driftwood, thanked everyone for their hard work and thanked the Trustees for keeping the discussion friendly and sharing the financial challenges. His concerns are that it is difficult to know what the Villagers want and suggested a referendum might be simpler. He believes permeable pavers would significantly reduce stormwater run-off while removing 0 & 94% of toxins and the cost would be marginal if installed when the pavement needs to redone anyway. The cost of the three current proposals is astronomical, it is between $250,000 to $322,000 per protected house according to the numbers provided. He believes most buyers of the homes knew they were buying in a flood zone and bought at a significant discount. He also does not believe this is a case of west Wilmette versus east Wilmette as many residents in west Wilmette have fully finished basements that have never flooded.

Chip McColl, 2116 Beechwood Avenue, said he believes the Village Board has been working on the issue for a very long time and he appreciates, the time and work, due diligence and loves the fact that a decision will be made tonight. He believes the best solution would be a combination of Option 1 and 3 if money and time were no issue. He wondered why not do this in stages and do something that is going to have any impact in two years, the storage option has an impact in half the time. He believes this is an ongoing process where the Village Board can make a decision and implement a solution in stages that make sense. He believes now is the time to act and make a difference for the residents of Wilmette.

Bryan Abbott said he is a Wilmette Park District Commissioner but speaks for himself this evening. He said that each park is unique and represents the neighborhood it is in for the community. He said should the Village Board select an option, the Park District will be starting from the beginning regarding the issue.

President Bielinski declared a recess at 9:25 pm.

President Bielinski brought the meeting back to order.

President Bielinski said he believes it is important to build a consensus among the Village Board and asked every Trustee to speak regarding the issues and options.

Trustee Wolf said she would like to start with putting the whole thing in perspective because we do not exist in isolation, we are part of Illinois and part of the region. Some of the things that Trustee Sullivan brought up are very good points about the financial considerations. Since we started studying the issue to see what was going on underground, it was illuminating and going through engineering studies was also helpful. Even during the time we have been studying the stormwater issue some things have changed; our State government has a lot of uncertainty and there have been some regulatory things that have affected the Village and we have to look at for the future as they were not on the horizon a few years ago. We have also had to do some studies at the Water Plant due to taking on more customers, and discovered some significant improvements were needed in the last few years that we were not previously aware of and impose some financial considerations. In light of all that and the fact of climate change, she believes we need to look down the road as whatever project we do, we are not going to do it and be done forever with stormwater, it is going to be with us for a while. She has come to support what she calls Option 3A, which is doing something that would take effect sooner that costs less, that has flexibility down the road. The things that would make it Option 3A are the larger pipes that would set it up to be expanded to convey as in Option 1 down the road. The other thing she believes is really important is adding green infrastructure as an integral part of the project. If you look at what progressive communities are doing and that is what they are doing. You look at what will retain water in the watershed, replenish water tables and let some of it go back to Lake Michigan, that is what green infrastructure does. By adding that to Option 3 and make it 3A, she believes that would have a lot of benefit.

Trustee Sullivan said he appreciates the patience of residents as the Village Board has worked on the issue for the last 8 10 years. His previous comments on the fiscal responsibility is a big concern for him as when we first started discussing the issue, we were in the beginning of the worst recession most of us have seen and he believes the Village at that time was fiscally prudent and has done a good job of building us back up to where we are today, where we are seeing appreciation and home ownership and not a reduction in services. He believes it has been the same, if not better over the past 10 years and still a reasonable and affordable Wilmette. He said last week we voted on affordable housing and voted to approve something, making and keeping Wilmette a diverse, affordable community and that is important to him. He does not want to price us out of the community or be known as that exclusive, unaffordable or unattainable. He fully agrees that he wants this to be the best solution. How do we get this done in 10 years, he cannot run the numbers when he comes to Option 1 and say are we going to better Wilmette in the long term, are we going to put us in peril. He does not have the right answer on we can finance $100 million in 10 years on top of what we know is coming. He would be supportive of Option 3 because it gives relief to people sooner in three different neighborhoods but he would expand and say he would challenge us to come up with a comprehensive, strategic plan that will fix this sewer and spend Option 1 and 3 over the next 30-40 years. He believes that is where we have to go and layer in $130 million worth of improvements and it may be more than that if we want to protect against a 100 year storm. He is supportive of doing something this evening and believes we can afford the $50 million of Option 3 but he would also like to see a Committee formed to continue this project and make improvements.

Trustee Plunkett said this is not an easy decision and she has learned a lot about sewers. She agrees with Trustee Wolf that she is an Option 3 plus. She knows that Option 1 is the best engineering solution and that makes it very tough as she knows conveyance is a good system and that is what the east side has but compared to the cost, this is more than double that. She sees this as part of the comprehensive plan. We have spent on our sewer system since 1992, $89 million, $42.5 million on the west side and $46.2 on the east side. She does not see that changing in the future and if we have made these investments in the past, we will continue to make these investments in the future. She thinks that Option 3 gives most people the most relief in the shortest amount of time while we come up with a comprehensive plan and believes we should add those extra pipes so we can connect with Option 1 in the future. What she would really like to see as part of Option 3, and we have had a lot of resident feedback about this, is green infrastructure as part of this plan. One idea would be to have a cost sharing plan on private property and there are a number of municipalities that have done this for rain gardens and bio swales. We also need to discuss green infrastructure on public property and we have been having these discussions. She would be in favor of an Option 3 if we are supplementing this with green infrastructure and we make a commitment that we will be investing in our sewers for years to come.

Trustee Dodd thanked all the residents who came to the meeting to speak and sent emails. This is a very hard decision and she has learned a lot about sewers. She agrees that this is the start of a longer project and whatever solution we choose tonight, we will need to continue to invest in our sewers. We do not know in 20 years what will be a 10 year storm which is why we have to continue to make sure we look at this as a broader comprehensive plan. She has wavered between Option 1 phased over 15-20 years and Option 3 which can get done quicker. She does not believe we can do Option 1 right away as it is too expensive and the engineers said it will have to phased out for approximately eight years. Option 1 is more expensive than our total annual budget and we have to be stewards of our money and that is why she believes it would have to be phased. Her concern around phasing Option 1 is all the other things that are uncertain to us such as uncertainty in our local government, federal government, other municipalities and other critical projects we have. Her concern with a phased project is that it would not get relief to residents soon enough and our goal is to try to get some relief as quickly as possible. She realizes that not everyone will be happy with that and not everyone will be served with that, we need and want to start somewhere and she believes Option 3 gives us that capability. She agrees that we need to look at green infrastructure and because this is a comprehensive plan, she supports that we put in the larger sewers that we can to allow us to expand. The reason she is leaning toward Option 3 is that she is concerned that residents in our community are concerned about how expensive it is to live here and we have had other referendums that have enforced that and we must be cautious of that. The analogy she has made at a previous meeting is that she believes this is similar to purchasing a home, of course you would like to do everything, but you can’t, you have to have a long term plan. She is concerned with Option 3 with the areas we are leaving behind, so if we decide to go with Option 3, in this next engineering study, we look to see what we can do to expand that. She believes we have to have core services for all our residents, it is just a matter of how quickly we can get there and we must continue to help our residents.

Trustee Dodd said she would like to address the referendum question that has come up. She is not in favor of that as we are one community, we are not a bunch of neighborhoods and have not put other capital projects in front of us on a referendum and she would be concerned with the pattern that would set. In general, capital improvement projects are very large and they are very expensive to the community but they affect everybody.

Trustee Kurzman thanked everyone for coming to the meeting and watching on Channel 6. He has been looking at this from a policy perspective, in part from his professional experience being in the legislative and regulatory process, setting public policy for over 15 years. One of the things he has come to learn, is to back into a decision based on cost rarely has a good outcome, especially if it is not based on sound public policy or broad public support. Village staff established 10-year flood protection as a standard level of service which is a modest goal. Nearby municipalities aimed higher, but we thought it was in our reach. He wanted to turn to sentiment that has been shared by predecessors serving on the Village Board that this Village was to focus on core essential services that no other unit of government could provide. He wanted to point out that we are on the precipice of going beyond that edict. From a policy perspective, it doesn’t make sense to him to compare expenditures in the two very distinct sewer systems; two sets of pipes, twice as much pipe going to three locations versus one set of pipe going to one location. The separated sewer system is an environmentally appropriate system, west Wilmette’s sanitary matter never finds its way into Lake Michigan. Nobody builds combined systems anymore because they know they degrade the environment and there is a price for being environmentally appropriate. We should not be doubting our investment in the separated system, if anything, we should be doubting our past investments in the combined sewer system because those investments lacked foresight. He wants to share his specific concerns about Option 3. Option 3 takes a natural resource and makes it into an unnatural resource and this will limit us in the future and our aspirations that we have heard about with green infrastructure. Not taking care of our natural resources is how we got to where we are today. When talking with people who object to Investing in the separated sewer system, what he finds is people who are expressing disappointment with past leadership. When he looks to the past, the further back we go in the governance of our Village, maybe you can understand that you didn’t know climate change was coming. Maybe you didn’t know how ferocious it would be and how quick it would be upon us but maybe there should have been more thought about if you are going to build above ground then perhaps you should build below ground to accommodate with the infrastructure.

Trustee Kurzman said flooding has been under reported in Wilmette from the beginning as people are hesitant to speak out because they know what it will do to their property values. This has plagued the process from the start and makes it a unique issue. But, residents have stepped forward and shared personal information to help the engineering study process. We have maps on the internet for everyone to see and now we are not going to serve them? To him, that disqualifies Option 3 on moral grounds. He said while he does not particularly like any of the options proposed, he supports Option 1. The reasons are because conveyance was identified as the primary problem and Option 1 addresses it and Option 2 does to a lesser extent.Option 1 provides the most robust opportunity for green infrastructure by not undoing our parks and it leaves no neighborhood behind in reaching a recognized standard of service. This is a generational opportunity to address these problems for our current residents while positioning ourselves for the future. So while he supports Option 1, he is also available to support Option 2 but for the reasons he has stated, for him personally Option 3 is disqualified.

President Bielinski said this is a complex issue and we have been talking about it for five years in earnest and studying it. He thanked his current and former colleagues, staff, consultants and residents who have constructively engaged with the Village as we go through the process. Whether it is $90 million or $50 million, it is a lot of money. We are a 27,000 person community, as was mentioned our outstanding debt is $83 million and we are talking about a lot of money for a community our size. He said there is no doubt that Option 1 at a cost of $90 million is the better engineering solution than the other alternatives being considered tonight, conveyance is better than storage. But what he does want to highlight, is Option 1 won’t fix the problem, it won’t solve the problem, it won’t take care of the problem, it will help. We are talking about infrastructure spending that is a continuous process, and is a question of raising service levels. Our sewer system will be able to better handle larger storms if we make an investment here, but there will always be a storm that is too big for our system. One of his concerns is that we will spend $50 million or $90 million and he will have a resident tell him that the Village did not fix the problem and spent all that money. The projects are not going to end overland flooding, the occurrences will be less frequent and severe and the service level will go up. The genesis of the ten year service level that was discussed was that the original ask was for more and the consultant estimates were way too expensive and more than what we are looking at today, so the reality is that cost is a very important element. He noted that every resident’s level of service is different whether it is road condition, distance from Fire or Police stations, distance to parks or the beach but we continually try to improve our service levels. In his mind $90 million is a not a project, it is a program but he does not believe a 20-year approach addresses the issues that we currently face and he does not think it is responsive. He favors what he calls Option 3 plus.

Option 3 is a series of $15 million to $20 million neighborhood storage projects which is absolutely consistent with the scope and expense of the West Park sanitary sewer project. When he says plus, he favors Option 3 which keeps future stormwater improvements on the table. The one thing we can all be certain of today, is that we do not know what the future holds. He favors the suggestion of green infrastructure being part of the design project and would encourage staff to make that a priority and bring to Municipal Services some ideas before the budget process so we can make that kind of investment. He also believes that this is not the end of the investment, this is the beginning and he can set a plan and an approach for the stormwater process. He believes Option 3 is a fiscally responsible approach and it will provide material improvement in the performance of our system for the vast majority of the storms that we experience. There is less construction risk and less uncertainty with the cost as we will not be going under the expressway and using a street where we know there are utility conflicts today and we have experience building these type of projects so there will be more certainty with the cost.

President Bielinski said there seems to be a consensus for Option 3 with green infrastructure.

Trustee Kurzman said he was opposed to Option 3 on moral grounds.

Trustee Dodd said she would like to understand some of Trustee Kurzman’s concerns. One was taking a natural resource and making it natural, she asked for clarification of that concern.

Trustee Kurzman said it is just his opinion but he believes the parks are our best green infrastructure opportunity by building a tank into our parks, we limit their use in the future and the Park Board will evaluate that for their programmatic needs. He also thinks it limits us with our green infrastructure opportunities on those sites in collaboration with the Park District.

Trustee Dodd said even if we chose Option 1, we would still have to have conveyance going through parks.

Trustee Kurzman said if we focused on conveyance, we would still have parks available to us for ground storage without building tanks. He said he believes that building is part of how we have come to this point. We have a three legged stool of climate change, development practices and finances.

Trustee Dodd said why she would be in favor of adding green infrastructure to Option 3 is that we do need to encourage our residents to understand the value of impervious and pervious surface. There is nothing we can do about what has been built in this community but she hears Trustee Kurzman’s concern.

Trustee Dodd said Trustee Kurzman raised some concern about disappointment in what was previously done on the east side and she did not understand that.

Trustee Kurzman said combined sewer systems are a relic, putting your sanitary matter with your rainfall and having it discharged into the lake. Municipalities are recognizing that is not the way to handle your sewerage. With foresight, investments could have been made for more environmentally productive purposes and he would like to tout that as a value of the separated sewer system that it is environmentally appropriate and worthy of investment.

Trustee Dodd said she agrees with President Bielinski that there is not a lot we know for certain but one thing we know for certain is that we will be continuing to talk and invest about stormwater and sewers for a very long time.

Trustee Wolf said she would like to build on what Trustee Plunkett said about cost sharing on private property. She has done a little research on this and there are several communities that have implemented it. They have used the resources of Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT), which is in the city and has a program called Rain Ready that provides resources to communities and they are eager to partner with communities. Oak Park had a program where they provided resources to consult with homeowners, develop plans for what they could do on their site to keep the water on site, such as rain barrels and rain gardens, and then help them find a qualified contractor to install them and then follow up afterward. She would like to ask staff to get in touch with CNT to see if they will be able to work with them.

Trustee Plunkett said she believes this is something that the entire Village could and should take advantage of especially when we are talking about green infrastructure. If we are talking about Option 3, if there are pockets that are not served, we should look and see if we can serve those pockets with green infrastructure.

President Bielinski said we could also look into a relief sewer, how much would it cost or benefit specific areas.

President Bielinski said the Village Board seems to have a consensus around the neighborhood storage project including green infrastructure alternatives and also committing to a continuous study.

Village Manager Timothy Frenzer said we could build in into the CIP by coming up with an approximate completion date for the project and then see what the storm performance is and have funds for Phase ll supplemental work.

Trustee Sullivan said he would like to suggest taking a vote on the project but also continue to discuss and work on the improvements.

Mr. Frenzer said he would like to clarify that there would be two elements involved; 1) continuous examination would be part of the project and 2) continuously gathering performance of the completed projects and update the models.

Trustee Wolf suggested that Municipal Services continue to study what might become a longer term plan.

Trustee Dodd said we already know that there are some areas that will not be served by Option 3 and she does not want to have that lost, that would be a priority for her.

President Bielinski said he would like to have it formalized in the Capital Improvement Plan that there will be further evaluation.

President Bielinski suggested that they start with a motion direct staff to put together and issue a request for proposal for preliminary engineering design services to construct a neighborhood stormwater storage project in a manner consistent with the discussion this evening, which includes making the pipes big enough such that they would be compatible with a conveyance project consistent with Option 1, to also begin a process of preparing ongoing presentations with the Municipal Services Committee on green alternatives which could include a cost sharing program as well as direct Village investment in this project and in other places, and the continuing study of post project to the Capital Improvement Program.

Ms. Berger said the way the numbers were presented this evening, the $1.7 million for the preliminary engineering included $1.2 to bring all the phases up to 30%, which looks at how all the phases work together as well as how we can serve the areas that were unserved and then taking that first phase and bringing it up to full bid package so we could go out to bid.

Trustee Dodd said she would be in favor of whatever storage option is done first, include the conveyance along Lavergne.

Trustee Plunkett asked if conveyance would also be included along Lake Avenue.

Ms. Berger said that would also be included.

Mr. Frenzer said they would now have to start discussions with the Park District and School District and he is not sure how long that process will take.

Trustee Sullivan moved to direct Village staff to issue a request for proposal for preliminary engineering design services to construct a neighborhood stormwater storage project in a manner consistent with our discussion tonight to begin presentations of green alternatives to the Municipal Services Committee including both direct investment by the Village Board as part of this project and outside of this project, and a potential cost sharing program for green infrastructure on private property, and to add a study to the Capital Improvement Program which would memorialize this Village Board’s point of view that post construction there is more modeling and studying to do to further identify work that could be done, seconded by Trustee Wolf.

Voting yes: Trustees Wolf, Sullivan, Plunkett, Dodd and President Bielinski.

Voting no: Trustee Kurzman. The motion carried.

III. Public Comment

A resident said given that the State of Illinois has had some consideration of eliminating land lines and given that there are areas of west Wilmette that will have difficulty getting basic services during emergencies, she suggested putting in police call boxes so they can get emergency services when there electricity goes out.

IV. Adjournment

Trustee Wolf moved to adjourn the meeting at 10:28 p.m., seconded by Trustee Sullivan. There was no further discussion on the motion. All voted aye, the motion carried.

https://www.wilmette.com/download/agendas_and_minutes/committee_of_the_whole/minutes/2018/C-O-W-4-17-18-.pdf