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Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Vol. 19 No. 38
Voyager Media Publications • shorewoodsentinel.com
coMMUNItY
shorewood board hears lake Michigan water plan Lake Michigan water could be brought into Shorewood for an initial cost of around $29 million BY JEANNE MILLsAp
BY BUGLE stAFF After several delays, contractors on Aug. 29 removed the old, two-story window at the Shorewood-Troy Library. A new one should be installed within a couple weeks, after framing is replaced. It had been built with inadequate framing -- 4-inch steel, instead of 7-inch steel -- and the weight of the window, over time, was damaging the integrity, said Library Director Jennie Mills. Library officials had hoped the window wouldn’t need to be replaced; instead opening a new, $21 million library to replace the current one. But voters, some concerned about the extra $300 a year in property taxes the construction would carry, defeated a spring 2013 referendum on the issue. The window wasn’t the only issue leading library officials to request the referendum, Mills said, but replacing it became “the first, most serious problem” after the referendum was defeated. The construction itself was authorized not to exceed $81,000, and the architect fees on top of that will be about $10,000 to $15,000, Mills said, or about $90,000 all told. The work is being paid out of a reserve fund, she added, so it won’t affect normal services. However, Mills said, the work is taking about a third of the district’s overall reserves, which limits any upgrades or extras that we might have done instead. “We also spent about $30,000 in replacing an air-handler for our HVAC system this year,” she said. “Next year is a roof repair/replacement
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photo BY JohN pAtsch
Nick Brzweieski and Ryan Bergman work on boarding up the old window at the Shorewood-Troy Library. After some structural repairs to the frame, the two-story window will be replaced. The work is expected to take several weeks.
“We also spent about $30,000 in replacing an air-handler for our HVAC system this year,” she said. “Next year is a roof repair/replacement in certain sections, which is also going to take significant chunk of reserves.” in certain sections, which is also going to take significant chunk of reserves.” The current library was built in August 1985, according to the district website. It moved from space at the Shorewood Plaza, where it had been since 1976, when voters approved establishing a library district by referendum. Between 1972 and when the district was established, a bookmobile visited the village twice a month under the Project Plus Books Program for the Burr Oak Library System.
The Shorewood village board is considering a change from well water to Lake Michigan water. The village has had an Illinois Department of Natural Resources allocation to pipe in lake water since 2005, but it’s poised to begin serious planning for the option should the board take up the recommendation given to them Aug. 26 by consultant Derek Wold of Baxter and Woodman Consulting Engineers. “You have a viable option to bring lake water here,” Wold said at the meeting. In a workshop before the meeting, Wold said the board should make the decision within the next year, as it would likely be six or seven years to get the system online, which is also precisely when the village’s well water could reach its maximum output. Currently, Shorewood gets its water from four shallow and two deep wells that have a combined capacity of four million gallons per day. By the year 2017, Wold said, that flow will be reached. “Sometime in the next five years,” he said, “the village should plan on having another water source.” The deep aquifer used by the Chicago area is expected to be dewatered by 2050, its use highest in the Joliet/Shorewood area, he said. Water from the deep wells also has enough >> SEE WATER | PAGE 2