The rain garden at the Cook County courthouse does seem to be filtering stormwater, however the consensus of the county board is that it is larger than necessary. The rain garden will be reconfigured to take up less space on the courthouse lawn.
The one-year-old courthouse rain garden is getting a makeover, and this time, the project will be closely supervised by county commissioners and staff in consultation with American Legion representative Don Wilson.
The county received complaints about the visual impact of the rain garden after the service honoring veterans was held on the courthouse lawn on Memorial Day.
On Tuesday, July 27, 2010, Conservation Technician Tristan Beaster presented a fairly detailed drawing of the proposed changes. The revised garden will have two basins rather than three but is still expected to be able to handle parking lot runoff in heavy rains. It will start in the same place on the southeast corner of the parking lot but will curve east toward the courthouse and away from the veteran’s memorial.
The new garden plan has a spot for an interpretive sign telling about the rain garden. Beaster showed the board a design created by Soil & Water Secretary Theresa Oberg.
Commissioner Fritz Sobanja wondered if the current rain garden has ever filled up with rain. Beaster said water has filtered down to all three levels but the bottom level usually absorbs all the water within a couple of hours.
Sobanja expressed a desire to prioritize respect for veterans and citizens who honor them as they consider what to do with the current rain garden. “I think it’s more appropriate to accommodate those people than to divert rainwater from the parking lot,” he said.
Commissioners Sobanja, Jan Hall, and Jim Johnson wanted to see a more specific plan drawing that specified height variations and clearly outlined distances. Beaster said the only berm, or raised area, would be on the southwest end and would be disguised with shrubs. The second basin would be below the grade of the lawn.
Commissioner Johnson recommended hiring a landscape architect to create a more refined drawing so they could better visualize what the garden would look like and so the landscaper would have specific directions to follow. “It’s going to cost us some money,” he said. “I think a landscape architect would be a smart thing for us to do at this point,” he said.
Sobanja wondered who would pay for an architectural drawing. “We would,” Johnson said. He pointed out that the garden was meant to demonstrate to people how they could incorporate such a feature into their own properties.
People can look at the rain gardens at the Community Center and the library, Sobanja said. “Who can afford to put one in at the price it’s coming to?” he wondered.
Commissioner Hall reminded the board that they originally thought the rain garden would cost $6,500, but it ended up costing $17,000. The county spent between $4,000 and $5,000 as its share of a grant to Soil & Water, which received $12,000 for the project. Not maintaining the garden for 10 years would require the county to pay a penalty of $17,000, and Beaster said removing the current garden would cost another $3,000.
Commissioner Johnson made a motion to hire a landscape architect, but it died for lack of a second. County Maintenance Director Brian Silence said he was sure they could scope the project out adequately on the ground.
The board unanimously passed a motion to accept the lower of two bids, $3,327.65 with sod or $2,560.90 with seeding from Winchester Higgins of W Labor LLC. Don Wilson, Commissioner Sobanja, and Commissioner Johnson will be called when the work begins so they can observe the work while it is being done. Brian Silence will also be overseeing the project.
Thejob is expected to take three to four days. Beaster is leaving his county job mid-August to begin graduate school, and he was not sure when landscaper Winchester Higgins would be able to get the job done.
“I think there will be a lot more eyeballs on this project than there was last time,” said Wilson.
Leave a Reply