'Ecological' La Grange Parking Lot Planned

LA GRANGE, IL – La Grange is planning to replace a parking lot with permeable pavers, making it "very ecological," an official said Monday.

At a meeting, the Village Board voted unanimously to spend $371,000 to redo the parking lot north of Harris Avenue in downtown La Grange, between the Aging Care Connections senior center and The Elm restaurant.

The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District is reimbursing the village for nearly half the costs.

"It's very ecological," Trustee Beth Augustine said. "It's the right thing to do. But it happens to be much more expensive instead of paving over a parking lot. So it's a financial consideration."

Augustine thanked the village's staff for applying repeatedly for grants for the parking lot. She said the permeable pavers will help with flood control.

"For those of you who think that it's just bricks with water going between them, it's not that at all," Augustine said. "It's actually a very detailed, several-foot hole that they do with several types of rock aggregate for proper drainage. So (the water) goes into the ground, instead of right into the sewer like everything else."

The village has three other parking lots with permeable pavers, she said.

The new parking lot is expected to capture at least 37,800 gallons of stormwater during a rainstorm, according to a village memo.

Aurora-based Abbey Co. was the low bidder.

Earlier in the meeting, the board unanimously approved the Climate Action Plan for the Chicago Region, which dozens of towns have approved.