ROADS & CONSTRUCTION COMMITTEE
AUGUST 14, 2007
The meeting of the Roads & Construction Committee of the City of Palos Heights
was called to order at 8 p.m. by Chairman Kramarski. Also present were Alderman
Basso. City Engineer JonVaznelis, Public Works Director Jerry Martin and one interested
resident. Aldermen Gnap and Clifford arrived at 8:10 p.m.
Approval of Minutes
Ald. Kramarski moved to approve the July 10, 2007
minutes of the Roads & Construction Committee, seconded
by Ald. Basso and the motion carried.
Director’s Report
Patching was done on various locations on 76th Avenue
north of Rt 83 and throughout town. Stone has been
installed on the shoulders of the roads at various locations and there were a few
minor curb repairs. Ald. Kramarski complimented crews on a fine job done.
The culvert and ditch project that was requested in the area of 126th & 70th
Avenue has been completed. Ditches continue to be regraded in the area of 125th-126th &
72nd Court where there was standing water near Harris Bank. Jerry left his card with Mr.
Dombrowski, but they aren’t working near his property. They will start on the west side
of the street, north of his property, and go to the east side of the street in the middle of the
bank’s property and then south.
Some drainage work needs to be done near the berms behind the stores. There’s
ponding water that will involve removing some of the berm and allowing a channel to go
through which they are starting to work on. Work on the sink holes in the area of 123rd
Place & 76th Avenue has been completed.
Jerry talked with Mr. Raisutis who needs to re-establish the ditch in the rear of his
property in Misty Meadows. Mr. Raisutis had called for locations so he could start the
work. The utilities came out and located and there’s a large conflict with them. Jerry
will review the situation tomorrow and advise the resident of an alternative route for this
ditch.
There’s ongoing installation and repairs of street and traffic signs.
The Harlem Avenue median project has been completed. There have been
questions regarding weeding and watering which is the responsibility of the contractor.
He has been lax and public works has been doing at least clean-up and weeding of that
area. It’s the contractor’s responsibility until September. Ald. Kramarski stated if the
contractor has not maintained these medians as he is contractually obligated to do, is the
city allowed to be reimbursed for the time? Jerry doesn’t know if that will happen.
The city is required to send the contractor a compliance notice to clean up and he has
been sent several notices. Per IDOT specifications he is only required to do routine
maintenance once a month, and he was out there two weeks ago right after the city did
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some cleanup. In the meantime Jerry received many calls about the weeds in that area so
it doesn’t work if he waits for the contractor to show up for his required once-a-month
maintenance. Jon is following through and sending notice. If he doesn’t reply to the
notice, the city has recourse to charge him.
Jerry heard from ComEd regarding the area behind Coach Road where there were
drainage problems. ComEd thinks there’s a utility easement between their property and
the homeowners’ properties and they aren’t sure who owns it. They will send a survey
crew out to determine whether that area along the back of the homes is on ComEd
property, a utility easement, or on the homeowners’ property because they can’t tell from
the maps.
Street sweeping began this month.
There are some things the city can do on Cypress Avenue to help the drainage
situation during a 5 or 10-year event, but during a larger event the same problem will
occur with a large amount of water going through the back yards, the channel and into the
street. Jon looked at the tributary area--the sewer that drains behind Mr. Moore’s house
out to the creek on the east side of Cypress. The existing pipe doesn’t have the capacity
to handle anything over a 25-year event; and the saturation of the ground determines how
much overflow gets into the creek. They looked at possible improvements that can be
done to minimize the impact on that house. First, they talked about televising the sewer
to make sure its integrity is intact and there is no blockage. If there is any, cleaning it
will be addressed. Another item is to try and get the water into the pipe at a quicker rate
so during the early part of a storm the water can get downstream rather than allowing it to
build up to a point. One suggestion is to lower the inlet to the structure behind the house
coming from the creek to the west. The other suggestion is to raise the overflow
elevation on the north side of the structure, where there’s a box where water flows out
into the channel, to try and contain the water more within the structure. When it can’t
handle the water, it will still spill over and go into the channel, but with the piping so flat
the only way to get the volume of water needed through that pipe is to build up ahead on
that pipe. The only way to do that is to contain the water in the channel to force it
through the pipe. One of the last revisions that will require research has to do with
whether the city has easement rights and possibly agreements with property owners.
Currently there are two 90-degree angles and two 45-degree angles on the channel which
don’t work well with water and they end up restricting it more than you want. So
obviously one of the items they are looking at is re-doing the overflow from the structure
into the channel and making it more of a straight shot to the south. That, however,
involves taking down some trees and bushes and possibly agreements with some of the
neighbors and that part would take research to see if it’s even doable.
If it comes to that point, Ald. Kramarski would like Mr. Moore to have
discussions with his neighbors to see if they would agree before the city gets involved.
Mr. Moore believes he would be able to get his neighbors on board if that would be part
of the solution. He has talked to several of them to his south. During one major event,
several houses south of him also flooded in their back yards. Jon is talking about the
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houses adjacent to Mr. Moore or to the west. There’s a possibility of routing it between
some of the properties to the south, but they are already taking in some water and that
could create another problem rather than solving a problem. It won’t work to take the
channel all the way down to the ditch that runs east/west along 131st because that’s too
high. All that eventually ends up at the beginning part of Navajo Creek which is on the
east side of Cypress and the elevations just don’t work. Mr. Moore asked whether a
wider pipe or a second pipe could be installed. Jon replied part of the problem is that
there aren’t easements through all those properties. The other part is that elliptical pipes
are available but they don’t give you that much increase in volume. The best increase in
volume is to increase the slope. Because the elevation from the back of that yard is so
flat, the slope is locked in and can’t be increased. Increasing the slope would be the best
solution. Sizing the pipe just gives you more volume in the pipe but it doesn’t push the
water that much faster because the slopes go flat.
Mr. Moore asked whether the momentum of the water coming from the west to
the east and going into the system pushes the water through/ Jon stated that’s defined as
“head” and it does, and if you build up the amount of pressure on the system, it will push
more water. That’s one reason we are talking about raising the elevation of the overflow
on the north side of that structure to raise the water level and put more pressure on the
water within the pipe to force more water through the pipe. When you do that you need
to be careful because you still have to be able to let the water release itself over land
when it can’t handle the flow. That’s why the swale itself has to be re-worked in
accommodating the overflow.
Mr. Moore should meet with his neighbors and then meet on site with Jon and
Jerry. It’s easier to explain there rather than trying to explain it here. This will help the
situation, but during a large rain there will still be water surrounding three sides of his
property. Ald, Kramarski suggesting setting a date and time during normal working
hours when everyone could meet on site. Mr. Moore indicated he can make
arrangements.
Mr. Moore stated another thing that was discussed at the last meeting was to look
for a way to divert some of the water coming from the north before it got to that point.
Are there no other options? Jon stated there are no options without creating problems for
other people in the area. There’s one minor area of drainage down 78th Avenue but it’s
only the drainage from several houses. There’s no way to reroute the major flow from the
west. Mr. Moore should talk with his neighbors, contact Jerry’s secretary with a date and
time and Jerry will advise Jon and Ald. Kramarski. He was given Jerry’s business card.
Regarding 76th Avenue reconstruction, design work is considered complete with
final submitted being made to IDOT. Pending any additional comments from IDOT,
Morris will send them Mylars to start reproducing at the end of this month. Phase 3
agreements were forwarded to IDOT for the construction portion of the project. Pending
any problems, we are set for the November 2007 letting schedule.
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The Harlem Avenue Median project is substantially complete. Money is still
being held on the contractor for maintenance and to make sure the vegetation doesn’t die
during the summer. The contractor is sent a reminder once a month to do the clean up.
There’s one final bill for presentation for the retainage on the Sidewalk project.
Janice Colvin will follow up with the state for reimbursement to the city.
There was a meeting last month for Cal-Sag Watershed which public works and
Jon attended. The main emphasis of the meeting was to report on the debris clean-up in
the drainage waterways in this area. The good news for this area is that the Southwest
Council is one of the more vocal groups. Of the additional $200,000 the MWRD
allocated for drainage waterway improvements, $130,000 was allocated to this area. It’s
primarily because of the emphasis and attendance at the meetings. Jon talked with a
MWRD representative regarding how they prefer to package it and any requirements for
additional storage, not only for Lake Arrowhead but also for other areas of town. They
are asking that we secure letters from Cook County and IDOT so there’s more evidence
of agreement on the project and that’s what they are doing.
The work and the punch list are complete on the 2007 Paving program and Morris
is securing all the last paperwork regarding inspections and delivery tickets for materials.
Once that’s done, they will look at reductions of the 5% retainer next month. Ald.
Kramarski stated everybody involved in the 2007 road program did a fantastic job.
Jon talked with Wally from Forest Ridge about project close out. One of the
issues holding it up is getting the escrow replenished so a meeting can be set up to close it
out.
Regarding Ponds of Palos, Jon received 6 out of 18 as-builts. Of the 6, 3 of them
will be approved as noted and the other 3 will be rejected and re-submitted. The pool
drawings are not officially finalized so there’s still an outstanding issue.
Apparently, Doyle’s maintenance bond hasn’t shown up. The new finance
director will be in charge of letters of credit and escrow. Ald. Kramarski requested a
memo be sent to Janice asking her to notify her, this committee and Jon or Jerry 60 days
before they expire.
Crest Invoice
Morris Eng. Invoices
Ald. Kramarski moved to approve payment to Crest & Sons
Cement Contractors in the amount of $849.92 seconded by Ald.
Clifford and the motion carried.
Ald. Kramarski moved to approve payment to Morris
Engineering of invoices dated July 10th that she had
questions on as follows:
76th Avenue Reconstruction Phase II
Sidewalk Improvement
$15,835.68
117.75
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Storm Water Management Plan
2007 Road Program
2007 Road Program MFT
1,078.75
183.25
3,728.90
for a total of $20,944.33 seconded by Ald. Basso and the motion carried.
Ald. Karmarski moved, seconded by Ald. Clifford to approve payment to Morris
Engineering as follows:
76th Avenue Reconstruction Phase II
76th Avenue Reconstruction Phase II
76th Avenue Reconstruction Phase II
Sidewalk Improvements
Storm Water Management Plan
Palos Heights General 2007
2007 Road Program
2007 Road Program MFT
$5,092.29
2,759.22
5,695.00
319.00
97.00
851.22
183.25
2,255.36
for a total of $17,252.34 and the motion carried.
Addressing Mrs. Tortorici’s concerns, Jon clarified the
conversation he had after the MWRD meeting about
the project submitted. He talked to them about Lake Arrowhead and any other
detention areas. MWRD said they would prefer it if other governmental or
private agencies are involved as part of the package because it would make the
project stronger if we can get letters from those agencies saying they concur or
would like to pursue the project, Morris was contacting Liz Gorman’s office trying to
get a letter. Getting a letter from the forest preserve will be difficult. He will try to get a
letter from Cook County saying they have no objection to the project. We won’t be able
to get anything from IDOT other than some old correspondence Morris has on file from
IDOT to include in the package. If Mrs.Tortorici has any background information from
IIOT it would be helpful, but they were approached once on re-doing the connection that
drains into their storm sewer and their response was not positive. Commissioner Gorman
has been very receptive.
Questions/Comments
Ald. Basso has a question about the “speed bump” at 120th & 70th Court. Jon looked
at it, and without grinding out the whole intersection, there’s no easy way to repair it.
There was discussion about doing it within this year’s budget, but the bids came in higher
than originally projected. Jerry stated the only way to resolve it is to put it in next year’s
road program. It will take grinding. To mobilize these people for just that one
intersection is costly. Either we have to excavate the entire intersection and relay it, or
grind out either side. It could be included in next year’s road program. Ald. Basso wants
these minutes to specify that it will be in next year’s road program. It should be reworked and not in such a way that the east/west road accommodates the north/south road.
He urged to get bids to take that intersection down to a reasonable level so we don’t end
up raising the road east/west. He thinks they made the new north/south road too high.
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The way to rectify that would be to increase the height of the east/west road. Jerry stated
that entire intersection will have to be taken out and have a butt joint in all 4 directions.
In order to do that where there’s no speed bump you need to take out the existing
pavement and go back on all 4 streets for a certain distance and put the butt joint in rather
than an over-alignment. That’s what needs to be done in order to remove the “speed
bump”. Ald. Basso stated it’s not a “speed bump” like in a parking lot. The whole
intersection creates the bump or high spot. Jerry will include it in the specifications for
next year and see what it would cost. Either we want it or we don’t. Ald. Kramarski
replied “we do”. She also wants included in the road program the service roads behind
the stores; and “the sooner the better” to look at the 2008 road program. The
improvements should be spread equally in all three wards, but she will make an exception
for ward 3 if 76th Avenue is good to go,
The re-construction of 76th Avenue needs to be done and it will take all summer.
Jon suggested the committee start looking into the remaining section of 76th Avenue.
Money is getting tighter and if there’s to be talk of getting funding it won’t hurt to start
discussions.
Ald. Clifford asked what type of work requires a topographical survey and whether
there are any concerns with the proposed garage on Oak Park at 124th. Jon replied
basically, it’s required on any new construction for an entire lot. It’s required on an
addition depending on the size of the addition and the grading of the lot or if there are any
conditions adjacent to the lot such as a creek or a flood zone. Whoever does an addition
usually brings in a plat of survey and architectural drawings showing the addition, and
based on that Jon will check with public works to see if there are any known issues.
They drive by the site to see if it warrants a topographical survey. If the addition is small,
there’s no need to do a full topographical survey, but for a major addition where the
natural grade is changed one is required. Jon checks it out before a permit is issued.
Ald. Gnap wonders what is causing the water in the drainage ditch along 127th at Oak
Park to occasionally turn red. After it rains, it’s not red. Jerry will check.
Ald. Kramarski referred to the corner of 127th & Richard where there was a gas leak.
Nicor did some work and the resident is concerned about Nicor restoring. Jerry knows
Nicor was going to do more restoration than was required and he will check to see if it
was done.
Regarding the street light at 131st & Cypress, Jerry stated it has been on and off.
There was a fault in the wiring on that light. He thought ComEd had repaired it but he
will check. Also, the street sign at 135th & Oak Lane is missing again.
Adjourn:
It was moved and seconded to adjourn at 8:45 p.m. and the motion carried.
Beverly A. Larson, Secy.
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