Skokie Residents Complain About Water Project Construction Impact

SKOKIE, IL — Skokie residents living in areas affected by the construction of new pipes to connect the villages of Morton Grove and Niles to Evanston's water supply told trustees they have been living through a mismanaged nightmare. Several residents around the construction zone attended a village board meeting last week to voice their frustrations with the infrastructure work being carried out by contractors for the Morton Grove-Niles Water Commission.

A 93-year-old resident of the 9300 block of Kildare Avenue, described living in a "wonderful neighborhood until this grossly mismanaged project came along," in a letter read at the meeting by a neighbor. "This total disregard of our village is for the benefit of some other communities. Good for them. But what about us? Doesn't Skokie have any oversight over this mess?"

Louis Schutz, who lives near the intersection of Kenneth Avenue and Emerson Street, told the board construction workers were regularly in violation of time restrictions and village staff had been unhelpful.

"Whoever's been in charge, whoever's ongoing with this has just done a miserable job. We haven't been properly informed. When we make complaints they fall on deaf ears. It's just been a terrible ordeal to live through this," Schutz said. "It's just turned into a construction zone nightmare."

Several other residents echoed Schutz's complaints at the board's Sept. 17 meeting, suggesting they had called Skokie police and village staff to no avail.

"Our house was rocking," said Marvin Winer, who lives near the intersection of Emerson Street and Lowell Avenue. "Actually you can feel every blow." He also expressed disappointment over the lack of any replacement of the water pipe leading to his house despite the major inconvenience.

Cheryl Manilow, who lives near Kedvale Avenue and Emerson Street, said construction workers blocked access to her driveway during recent Jewish holidays, turned water to her home off without providing notice, and had come onto her property to use her water without asking.

“They admitted to it," she told the board. "And they weren’t even smart enough to put our hose back on so we wouldn’t detect that they did this.”

Michelle Zimmerman, who lives near the intersection of Emerson Street and Keystone Avenue, expressed many of the same concerns – dust, a blocked driveway, water turned off with no notice.

“At this point, I’ve learned I need to go out about 20 minutes before I have to leave my house and start asking people, ‘Could you move that dump truck?’ ‘Could you move that cement truck?”

Every day, Zimmerman said, she finds rubbish left on her property by construction workers, including empty cans, water bottles and cigarette packs. She described feeling like the summer of 2018 had been taken away by the construction work.

“I’m really discouraged and I don’t feel like the project has been run that well, and the neighbors have been not informed that well," she said.

Residents asked Village Manager John Lockerby why there had not yet been any fines or tickets assessed against the contractors for violations, including, among other things, starting to early and ending too late.

Lockerby said the village was working to be "as productive as possible" and tried to provide "as much leverage as we can in order to get the project completed." He said part of that process involved delaying an administrative hearing regarding a citation for a construction violation.

A village spokesperson said the citation was issued Aug. 30 because the commission failed to restore road surfaces within 30 days of a successful water pressure test, as was required by a joint agreement. A Sept. 14 hearing was postponed. Fines of up to $750 per day could be assessed, but no fines are expected to be issued if the contractors are fully compliant by the time of the next hearing before an administrative law judge Oct. 12.

“There’s no question it’s been a long process, but we do appreciate the feedback and we will continue to work diligently with our partners in Morton Grove and Niles to make this the least intrusive as it can be," Lockerby said. "We do appreciate the patience.”

Skokie Mayor George Van Dusen said he lives one of the neighborhoods impacted by the work and everyone has been suffering from "construction fatigue," but the project is approaching completion.

"In the end, excuse the pun, once the dust has settled, we are all going to be happy with this project," Van Dusen said. "We have approximately 4.5 miles of new road which is going to be put in which will save the taxpayers of the village a little short of $3 million." He said the road had been graded as being in bad shape and the village would have had to do the work if the water commission had not.

"I give you the assurance that once it’s completed it’s going to be done to your satisfaction," he said. “I apologize for any inconvenience you’ve been caused. They did fall behind. That was because of an inadequate subcontractor. That subcontractor has been replaced and, at least my observation is that the work has begun to get caught up.”

The water commission, a partnership between Evanston, Morton Grove and Niles, is paying for the project, which will allow the villages to switch from sourcing Chicago's far more expensive water. Although Skokie is contributing to the project – in fact, Van Dusen said the village was benefiting from free road repairs – it unilaterally decided to give itself a discount last year to pay the same wholesale price that Morton Grove and Niles will be charged once the project is complete.

The move came amid a legal battle between Skokie and Evanston where Evanston sued Skokie in Cook County court to enforce a water price the city alleges is a fair market rate, while Skokie responded with an unusual lawsuit in federal court asserting that it is a violation of civil rights for different towns to pay different water rates. Meanwhile, prices for Skokie consumers have risen 15 percent over the past two years.

Van Dusen invited anyone with concerns about the project to call him directly, assuring residents in attendance that he returns calls and comes into his office on a daily basis. Some residents disputed the claim, citing multiple occasions on which the mayor had not returned calls or a staff member had done so instead. Van Dusen did not return messages left Monday. Over the past 18 months, Van Dusen has declined to return multiple calls and messages from Patch on a variety of subjects.

“We will take action," Van Dusen said at the board meeting. "I don’t know what else I can really tell you.”

Watch Sept. 17 Skokie Village Board Meeting:

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