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Politics & Government

Costly Creek Dilemma on Main Street

DNR says "daylighting" Spring Creek is needed to avert flooding.

A 470-foot stretch of Spring Creek that runs through a pipe underneath a parking lot on Main Street may again see the light of day and, in doing so, thwart the potential for flooding.

A 60-year-old pipe that currently serves as a stream bed is failing, causing the parking lot above it, near the M&M Restaurant, N64 W23316 Main St., and NAPA Auto Parts,  N64 W23356 Main St., to begin to cave, said Craig Helker, a state Department of Natural Resources water resources biologist.

"If it continues to fail, it will back up and there will be massive flooding," Helker said.

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The remedy lies in a report the Village Board adopted March 8,  detailing options to either re-establish the natural creek on the west side of the auto parts store, or to route a newly restored creek between NAPA and the M&M Restaurant.

The total project cost and timing are still to be determined. 

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 "A  lot of details and things ... have to be worked out yet," Village Administrator Jeremy Smith said. "The DNR requires to stream to be opened at such time as the pipe fails."

Helker said the remedy would include "daylighting" the stream, which means reirecting the stream corridor so that it no longer runs through a pipe, but rather in a naturalized channel.

Daylighting the stream could cost between $154,000 and $241,000, depending on the amount of excavation required and the installation of stream bed and bank material, according to a village document.

The total project cost also would include land acquisition costs, Smith said.

 "Who is responsible for paying for what ... are yet to be determined," he said.

The Spring Creek project affects the direction and design of multimillion-dollar public works and redevelopment projects that include , a plan and redevelopment of .

Daylighting the segment of Spring Creek, which drains to the Fox River, calls  calls for removing the pipe and leaving a natural, open stream channel that could flood up to but not over its banks, Helker said.

The daylighting project would benefit natural habitat in the area, by creating a more naturalized habitat, Helker said.

When pipes like the one under the parking lot are used to route a stream, Helker said, connectivity problems result for for fish and small animals.

"In a pipe 200 feet long," he said, the fish and small animals "just don't have the physical capabilities to keep up with the flow of the pipe and, structurally, it cuts off all fish movement for fish going upstream."

In a broad sense, the interruption of the natural stream corridor caused by pipes and parking lots also cause wildlife to reroute themselves, sometimes over streets, according to Helker, which can pose a danger to the public as well as wildlife.

 

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