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MWRD Board Denies Easement Request - Preserves Isabella Woods in Evanston

5/29/2017

Metropolitan Water Reclamation Board Meeting - May 18

Significant Decisions Made:
Consideration of the request for an easement to build a road through Isabella Woods on the Evanston-Wilmette border occupied most of the public meeting.

The road would serve a 4-house development proposed for a parcel in Wilmette.
More than a dozen individuals and representatives of conservation groups in Evanston and Wilmette spoke against the proposal, arguing that the District’s mission to manage storm-water precluded approving removal of old-growth trees which provide drainage. No one appeared on behalf of the developer or the County Highway Department, the nominal requester of the easement. (The County was brought into the process after Evanston declined to grant the easement to the developer.)
Several Commissioners and speakers alluded to the fact that the developer’s lawyer is State Senate President John Cullerton, whose “clout” may have been involved in persuading the Department to ask for the easement after it had been denied to a private citizen.

The Board unanimously refused to grant the requested easement after considering the issue in Executive Session.

Significant Topics Discussed and/or Referred to Committee:

A few contract awards were deferred at the request of various Commissioners who had detailed questions about the projects. These will be discussed privately with the District’s Executive Director and the items will re-appear on the consent calendar for the next meeting.

Unexpected Votes, Events, Testimony or Items to Watch for in the Future:

The unanimous vote against the easement could be considered unexpected. Apparently the Board’s concern for storm-water drainage, old-growth trees and popular opinion outweighed its concern about being sued for refusing to grant the easement, but that’s only speculation because the discussion took place in Executive Session.

Observer: Kelly Kleiman Meeting Length: 90 minutes before Executive Session

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MWRD President Receives Public Official of the Year Award from Illinois Water Environmental Association

5/29/2017

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Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Board Meeting - May 4, 2017

Highlights of the meeting:

Mariana Spryopoulos, MWRD Board President, was awarded the Public Official of the Year Award by the Illinois Water Environmental Association (IWEA). This was announced by Comm. Shore last year' recipient. Thunderous applause followed.
Friends of the Chicago River announced a project in which they are planting more vegetation around the river and putting more catfish and pike into the water. They will be testing the health of the plant and fish life in order to determine the success of this project.
Recovery on the Water, a group that helps cancer survivors deal with their recovery via rowing trips down the river, announced their desire to work closely with MWRD to ensure the safety of the water. These survivors many times have compromised immune systems and the cleanliness of the water is vital to them. Times to meet were set up and contact information was exchanged.
Discussion of water safety in general took place due to the large rainfall amounts over the past weekend. Director St. Pierre assured the board that testing of the water was stepped up after CSO incidents (Combined Sewer Overflow). This happens when too much rain falls in a short period of time (one inch in one day, for example) and the sewers and Deep Tunnel cannot store the water fast enough to be treated. Then untreated water overflows into Lake Michigan and the Chicago River, also known as a CSO. Warnings are posted about use of the lake and river during these times in order to avoid health problems.
Advertising for bids to clean up the Wetlands in the Main Channel Atlas Parcel (in Will County) was discussed. The Illinois EPA found 9000 tons of tar (from oil drums) last year that had been illegally dumped. Turtles and other wildlife in the area are being affected. This must be cleaned up in a “timely manner”. No one knows how long the tar drums have been there. (Agenda Item - #0466)

Deferred Items from the April 20th meeting that were discussed on May 4th:

The Buffalo Creek Reservoir Expansion Project was discussed. The reason for the deferral is due to the fact that this project is in Lake County. The MWRD has PLA’s (project labor agreements) with all unions in Cook County, but not in collar counties. Commissioner Durkan suggested getting the other counties on board with similar labor agreements so that projects are not stalled by the lack of one. This should come up at a subsequent meeting. The MWRD’s full name is the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. The rivers and streams cover collar counties as well as Cook (Agenda Item - #0411)
The truck hauling of liquid sludge from Lemont to Stickney was discussed. The commissioners felt the Lemont treatment plant is too small to deal with this stuff. The commissioners did not vote on this yet, but seemed to agree that the Stickney plant was better suited to deal with sludge. (Agenda Item - #0393)

Item deferred:

The issue of the contract award to the Organic Waster Receiving Facility and Digester Gas Flare Upgrade at Calumet was deferred. (Agenda Item - #0439)

Observer: Jan Goldberg

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MWRD Board Denies Easement Request - Preserves Isabella Woods in Evanston

MWRD President Receives Public Official of the Year Award from Illinois Water Environmental Association

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