Improvements to North Trail subdivision in Deerfield, which historically has had flooding problems after heavy rains, could be coming next year.
At Monday night’s Deerfield Village Board meeting, trustees approved an $82,100 contract for engineering and design of work in the North Trail neighborhood to reduce “ponding” after intense rainstorms. All together, sewer and roadwork combined, the village could end up allotting about $1.8 million for North Trail within the fiscal year 2015 budget, said Andrew Lichterman, assistant to the village manager.
For the people who live there, and who have dealt with deep flooding and crumbling roads for years, that sounds like sweet relief.
“We really got hit hard. It’s been a constant thing. But to have them respond as well, both from the village and from the engineering report, it seems like a good solution,” said Mike Leiderman, a North Trail resident of about 12 years.
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The engineering contract was awarded to the Northbrook-based Daniel Creaney Company, the same company that recently conducted a study of the neighborhood’s drainage problems.
Addressing the village board, Daniel Creaney said the recommendation was to build a relief storm sewer to take water from areas in the neighborhood with the worst ponding to the nearby middle fork of the North Branch of the Chicago River, which is where North Trail’s stormwater goes.
The sewer would essentially provide additional capacity and relieve pressure on the existing storm sewer system, Creaney said.
In some areas in North Trail, such as the 900 block of North Avenue, up to a couple of feet of water collects after short-duration, high-intensity rain fall, he said. The goal is to reduce that to an inch or two.
“We’re trying to reduce the ponding to a more acceptable level,” said Creaney said.
Creaney’s company had collected data for computer simulations to understand the problem, using information collected from the village and from North Trail residents. The proposed work would cost about $825,000.
This scope of the recommended work includes installation of a relief sewer along North Avenue, Portage Pass, and Summit Drive; installation of high-capacity drainage structures on Overland Trail; and installation of additional sewers and regrading of the path between Summit Drive and Deerfield High School, according to board documents.
Last summer, several North Trail residents came out to a village board meeting to complain about heavy flooding after the June 26, 2013, rainstorm. Subsequently, village officials hired Creaney’s company for the drainage study and now appear poised to approve the work for 2015.
At the meeting, North Trail residents expressed relief that improvements could be coming.
Leiderman said he hopes to see some other eco-friendly methods incorporated into the plan, such as rain gardens and bioswales.
Mark Samuels, who lives on Mountain Drive in the North Trail subdivision, said he was impressed by the work put into the drainage study. Compared to other suburbs like Berwyn and North Riverside, which have significant flooding issues, he said, Deerfield has been very responsive.
“I really appreciate the village’s concern and listening to us and advocating the situation,” Samuels said.
Lichterman said the North Trail plan will come back to the village board on Sept. 29 as part of the village’s capital improvement plan, when the fiscal year 2015 budget is presented.
“Obviously, we’d like the problem resolved now,” said Andi Kenney, who’s lived in the neighborhood for about 19 years. “But that’s not realistic. It’s an engineering solution and there has to be time for the design and the implementation.”