Council To Consider Stormwater Agreements With Park District

From the Village of Winnetka:

On Tuesday, March 10, Village Council will consider two Intergovernmental Agreements between the Village and the Winnetka Park District regarding stormwater improvements at the Skokie Playfields and Crow Island Park. These agreements were approved by the Park District at their February 20th and February 27th meetings.

The Village and the Cook County Forest Preserve entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to formalize their cooperation on this project in 2017, to provide stormwater relief to the western and southwestern parts of the Village. These Intergovernmental Agreements are a requirement of the MOUs and are necessary prior to receiving approval from the Cook County Forest Preserve to construct stormwater improvements.

Under the Skokie Playfield agreement, the Village will construct stormwater storage improvements and will then restore the property to its pre-construction state. The improvements will also provide flood protection for the field and golf courses. Over the past 18 months, the Park District and the Village developed and evaluated a number of concepts that would accommodate the necessary stormwater improvements on the property, while improving golf course playability and preserving space for the Park District to construct any potential future outdoor ice improvements. A cost-effective solution was identified that provides necessary Village stormwater relief, improves playability of the golf courses, provides additional sources of irrigation water, and preserves space on the property for potential outdoor ice improvements.

Under the Crow Island agreement, the Village will be allowed to install stormwater detention, water quality, and conveyance improvements beneath portions of Park property. In return, the Park District will benefit from having access to these improvements to drain low areas of the park space, if they choose, and they will also benefit from the Village providing additional replacement trees to supplement the Park District's ongoing planting efforts on the property.

These agreements will complete the series of IGAs necessary to begin the planning process for construction of stormwater storage and conveyance improvements. The next steps in this project are working with the Forest Preserve of Cook County to finalize the terms of a formal license agreement and to develop engineering plans for the project.

This release was produced by the Village of Winnetka. The views expressed here are the author's own.