Hinsdale Closing In on Fix for Veeck Park

The hopes to reach an agreement soon with John Burns Construction of Orland Park and the Chicago engineering firm Clark Dietz, Inc. to remove the piles of excess dirt in .

“We now have a schematic of what we plan to do in Veeck Park,” Village President Tom Cauley told trustees at Tuesday’s Village Board meeting. “We are going to achieve the goal we set out to, and that is to put Veeck Park back in the condition that it was in before we undertook the storm water facility project.”

The construction of the storm water treatment facility in the park created the mounds of unwanted dirt and there has been disagreement between the village and John Burns as to who is responsible for removing it.

Last month, the village considered converting the dirt into a berm, but that idea was abandoned after objections from trustees and residents who live near the park.

“We’re putting it back the way it was,” Cauley said. “We are now in the process of gathering costs to do that.

"The village has some money in reserve that we’re able to put towards that. The balance of the money will come from either John Burns, the contractor, or Clark Dietz, the engineer. We think between the three of us, we can get that done.”

Trustee Laura LaPlaca, who has been closely involved in the negotiations on the dirt piles, said the cost estimates should be completed this week or the early part of next week.

At the April 19 board meeting, Cauley said wet conditions in the park would preclude any removal of dirt until sometime this summer.