Techny Golf Course Eyed for Floodwater Basin

Engineers are considering the nine holes of Northbrook’s as a potential storage site for floodwaters.

Located in —which Park District administrators have called the “jewel” of Northbrook’s public park system—the golf course is just one of many public amenities in the 100-acre site, which also includes batting cages, artificial turf fields, a sledding hill, nature trail, fishing pond and skate park.

The park is set to get even bigger, as the Park District’s Board of Commissioners of an adjacent 6-acre property.

But tasked with managing stormwater countywide, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) has set its sights on this park in Northbrook.

MWRD plans to move forward this year with feasibility studies of possible projects to manage stormwater around the North Branch of the Chicago River, including expansion of the water retention basin in Techny Prairie Park and Fields, which helps manage overflow from the West Fork of the river’s North Branch.

With an estimated cost of $116 million, the Techny project would steepen the existing slopes of the basin and add about 48 million cubic feet of storage. MWRD estimates that it would protect more than 200 structures in Northbrook, Glenview, Golf and unincorporated Cook County—and in particular, the Tall Trees subdivision in Glenview. 

Until the agency conducts a feasibility study, however, the project is simply one of many proposals on the table, according to John Murray, principal civil engineer with MWRD.

“With any type of engineering project, you have to do your due diligence,” he said. “The whole point is to find out if it is technically feasible, politically feasible and economically feasible.” 

Village and Park District officials in Northbrook say they already have some concerns.

Public Works Director Kelly Hamill said the village was aware of MWRD’s watershed plan, and will continue to monitor the proposal.

“Most of the benefit will be seen downstream and in Glenview,” Hamill said. “The real key is what, what does it have as far as benefits for Northbrook residents? We would have to see the plan in more detail.”

Park District Executive Director Rick Hanetho said he, too, was aware of the plan, but thought it was unlikely to go forward—especially since the Park District Board of Commissioners had recently approved the purchase of the 6 acres adjacent to Techny Prairie Park and Fields. 

“It would be exceptionally difficult to see that as being an option,” he said.

Neighbors might oppose the project as well, according to Adele Sturgis, a member of Northbrook’s Stormwater Management Commission. The board a Master Stormwater Management Plan to the Public Works Committee at its Aug. 30 meeting. Village officials will be holding public comment sessions on that plan throughout September.

Sturgis brought MWRD’s proposal to the trustees’ attention during the public comment portion of the Aug. 30 meeting. She said the project “couldn’t happen” for several reasons because she expected the Park District would not support it and because “our neighborhood will never stand for it.”

“I would like to see the Village of Northbrook become very assertive and very insistent that the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District drop this plan and get working on a plan that’s going to benefit Northbrook, because the primary benefit of a detention facility in this location goes to Glenview,” she said. “We’re paying the taxes, and the benefit goes everywhere but here.”

President Sandra Frum responded at the meeting, saying that the village was “in complete agreement” with Sturgis.

Murray said that MWRD would work with the Park District and village officials before moving forward with the project. 

“From a flood control perspective, this is the best project, but that doesn’t mean that everyone’s going to love it,” he said.

Murray also stressed that expanding the retention facility in Techny Park and Prairie (known as “Techny A”) was merely a proposal, not a definite project. If it met with too much resistance locally, he said, the agency could look into expanding water storage areas downstream. 

Two nearby retention areas that MWRD may consider for expansion are the "Techny B” reservoir, across from Willow Hill Golf Course, and “Techny C” in Glenview, Murray said.

“The Park District shouldn’t panic,” he said. “We’re going to work with the Park District and show them what we’ve come up with and what we want to do.”

If the feasibility studies demonstrate that the project should move forward, Murray said, there would also be ample opportunity for public comment before the MWRD board voted on funding. 

“The planning is in the infancy stages,” he said, adding that designing the project alone could take a couple of years.

Northbrook village administrators will hold two sessions for gathering public comment on the village’s Master Stormwater Management Plan, which deals with smaller scale projects to manage area flooding.

Scheduled for the board room of , those meetings are set for 6-9 p.m. Sept. 14 and 9 a.m.–12 p.m. Sept. 24.