Sizable Cost Overruns On Western Springs Project

WESTERN SPRINGS, IL – A Western Springs neighborhood's drainage project, which started last month, is expected to see cost overruns.

In April, the Village Board approved a $5.2 million contract for Plano-based Performance Construction & Engineering.

The neighborhood in southwest Western Springs has long suffered some of the village's worst flooding. The other area is Ridgewood, where a project is set to start later this year, officials said months ago.

At Monday's board meeting, Trustee Scott Lewis said the village would need to increase the contract by $327,000. That's because a lot more excavation is needed in Springdale Park than the bid documents indicated, he said.

"The work had to be done, however, to ensure that the (detention) basin will work properly," Lewis said.

Western Springs is also planning a $70,000 contract increase for a small berm on the west and south sides of the basin. That would reduce flooding on Wolf Road and 53rd Street, he said.

Another new expenditure of $10,000 would be for the contractor to demolish the park's pavilion.

"The demolition will free up space for the contractor and allow the contractor to more easily install the new storm sewer further away from some of the mature trees in the park," Lewis said.

Recently, the park district announced it had received a grant to build a new pavilion, so it would have come down before long anyway, Lewis said.

Trustee Nicole Chen remembered going to the park for day camp as a child.

"I spent a lot of time in that pavilion," she said. "I guess it's time to move on."

The board is expected to vote on the changes to the contract next month. They amount to a nearly 8 percent increase.

Most of the project will be paid through the stormwater fee that the village imposed on residents a couple of years ago.

The village said it is also getting a $1 million grant for the work from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District.