The Cleveland Relief Sewer project, which promises to bring flood relief to eastern Niles, is ready to go up to bid.
The project is the final part of the first tier of the Niles Stormwater Relief Program. While the other two parts of the project – the stormwater basins at Maryhill Catholic Cemetery and Our Lady of Ransom Catholic Church – were completed in the end of 2014, this project was delayed as the village waited for regulatory approval.
During the Feb. 24 Village Board meeting, the trustees took several steps to formally clear the last regulatory hurdles. The village expects to go up to bid within six weeks.
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The Cleveland Relief Sewer project calls for the building of a new sewage pipe to drain water from the residential section of Niles, near Cleveland Street. The sewer will begin near the intersection of Main Street and Oketo Avenue and continue along Monroe Avenue until it reaches Cleveland Street. It will then continue along Cleveland Street until it reaches the Cook Country Forest Preserve, where it will go into the river.
Sewer pipes along Odell, Octavia, Oconto and Harlem avenues, Waukegan Road and Kenney Streets will feed into the new sewer pipes, relieving flooding in those areas as well.
Like all Tier I projects, this project will be funded through a 0.25 percent sales tax increase the village approved in 2012.
The project couldn’t proceed until the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRDGC) review it. The two agencies responded in February.
With that step out of the way, the Village Board had to take two more steps before the project could go up to bid.
First, it had to hold a public hearing where the project would be presented to the public and Niles residents and businesses would have a chance to comment on it. It also had to sign an intergovernmental agreement with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. To expedite the project, the village decided to take care of both during the Feb. 24 meeting.
Only one person spoke during the hearing. Resident Steven Yasell, who lives on Odell Avenue, said his home was among those affected by the 2008 flood that spurred the creation of the Stormwater Relief Program. He questioned the village’s priorities, saying that it shouldn’t have spent money on road repair when flooding issues were still unresolved.
“Why couldn’t we have used that money to fund the sewer project on streets that haven’t been repaved,” asked Yasell.
He argued that repaving of Monroe Avenue was particularly pointless, since it would be dug open as part of the Stormwater Relief Project.
“All the money spent seems to be wasted, and don’t like to see my tax money wasted,” said Yasell.
Mary Anderson, the Director of Niles Department of Public Works, told the Village Board that the project would go up to bid “in 60 days.” The delay, she explained, had to do with the changes IEPA asked for.
During the Jan. 20 Stormwater Commission meeting, Jeff Wickenkamp, vice president of Heys and Associates Inc, which consults the village on project planning, advised the village not to put the project up for bid until the changes are made. Otherwise, the village would have to change the bid, which, he argued, would make it look unprofessional.
Anderson told the board that expected the project to take two years.
“We are hoping to complete 60 percent of it in the first year, and the rest during the second year,” she said.
Trustee Joe LoVerde, who chairs the Stormwater Commission, thanked the village staff for helping to get the project this far.
“It’s a thankless job to try to get things through the bureaucratic system,” he said. “There are [residents] that waited and waited for this project.”
Mayor Andrew Przybylo said that, while construction may complicate things for residents living along the streets affected by the project, the end results would be worth it.
“I can tell those folks – it’s not going to be pretty, but we’ll make it as easy as possible,” he said. “I can say, with some certainty, that you’re going to have a better neighborhood. Be patient with us – flood relief is coming.”
Igor Studenkov is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.