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player ready...Park commissioners in New Lenox have agreed to allow village officials to run a Lake Michigan water pipeline along the edge of a park district golf course, but archeologists will have the final word.
Village officials, who have to finalize a pipeline construction plan to qualify for a low-interest state loan, say running the line along The Sanctuary Golf Course on Marley Road will save $500,000 in building costs.
Work on the proposed easement, which is near a site where archeologists discovered Native American artifacts and remains, will have to include archeological studies.
The grant of the golf course easement is contingent on fulfillment of conditions needed to preserve both the archeological site and the golf course itself, park attorney Cass Wennlund said.
Mayor John Nowakowski said the village’s plan to bring in a Lake Michigan water supply will have to go back to the drawing board if the study turns up significant archaological finds. “We’ll be back to look at a different easement. We don’t have a choice,” Nowakowski said.
Village Administrator Russ Loebe said members of Midwest Save Our Ancestors Remains and Resources Indigenous Network Group, a Native American group opposed to the water-main location, can observe the work on the site.
In a written statement, Midwest SOARRING officers Joseph Standing Bear Schranz, Cindy Bloom, Clare Farrell and Nancy Jannasch said, “Our ancestors’ graves are sacred, and it is imperative that the greatest effort be taken to avoid them during development.”
Members of the American Indian Movement don’t see the pipeline easement as a threat as long as proper procedures are followed, according to a letter from AIM officials to Park Director Bill McCollum