Division on Woodlands Project Made Public

There’s a “difference of opinion” among several trustees about the proposed plan for green infrastructure improvements in the Woodlands neighborhood, according to trustee Laura LaPlaca, chairwoman of the Environment and Public Services (EPS) Committee, which met Monday evening at Memorial Hall.

After a survey taken by most of the affected residents showed that approximately 70 percent of respondents support the plan—which would install environmentally sound drainage technology over the next six years and establish a Special Service Area (SSA) to pay for a portion of the planned road improvements—and a financial presentation by trustee Doug Geoga said that the Woodlands project would add $2.5 million of village expenditures for each of the next five years, three of the four trustees on the EPS Committee discussed the plan and where they stood eight days before a Board of Trustees vote on the plan could occur. (Bill Haarlow was absent Monday.)

LaPlaca said the project will likely be on the agenda for Tuesday’s Board of Trustees meeting so that, if passed, the plan can stay on track for its start next spring.

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During his presentation Monday, Geoga explained that under the village’s current 15-year, $88 million Master Infrastructure Plan (MIP)—which the village is already $5 million into—money needs to be borrowed to cover a "front-end loaded" plan that projects more work in its early years than its later years. Geoga said the borrowing will have to happen with or without the Woodlands project.

“If you front-end load, then … you can’t pay as you go,” Geoga said, noting that you end up paying back more than you borrowed when interest and transaction fees are added in.

Geoga said the full Woodlands project would necessitate the village to borrow $24 million. There would be an annual estimated debt service on that borrowing of $1.5 million, Geoga said, which would result in $9 million in unpaid debt at the end of the MIP from the Woodlands project.

Geoga said the $24 million IOU is “way too large and not acceptable.”

“Something has to give so that we don’t have to borrow $24 million of additional indebtedness,” Geoga said. “Whatever happens, that should not be the result.”

He said the project's 70 percent approval rate on the survey is not enough to justify the additional borrowing.  

LaPlaca said the results of the survey should not be viewed as “a determinative factor,” but one that should be weighed. All things considered, she said, she supports the Woodlands project.

“It’s a good time to do it,” LaPlaca said. “Money is cheap, construction costs are low, and I think it would be a good addition to the MIP.”

Trustee Bob Saigh, who also sits on the EPS Committee, said he felt his opinions fell somewhere in between LaPlaca and Geoga. He said road integrity and standing water in the Woodlands are among the safety issues he thinks should be solved, but called the proposed project “a huge commitment” for the area’s residents.

“We’d probably ought to give them that chance, but it’s a project that I want to make sure they fully understand,” Saigh said.  

LaPlaca said she put the discussion item on the EPS agenda Monday because she knew there were some different trustee opinions and it was important make them public before Tuesday’s Board of Trustees meeting.

Long time coming

Residents of the Woodlands neighborhood—the area bounded by County Line Road to the west, the Tri-State Tollway to the east, 55th Street to the south and Woodside Avenue to the north—were introduced on June 22 to a proposed road and stormwater improvement project for the area that would incorporate environmentally sound methodology, including rain gardens and bioswales, but also necessitate extra tax dollars from Woodlands homeowners in the form of an SSA.

Under the improvements that would be installed in three phases over the next six years, rain gardens and bioswales—two methods of absorbing stormwater and directing it to natural underground seams—would be installed along the public rights of way in the area. Engineer T. Scott Creech of HR Green, the firm working with the village on the project, said these gardens will be “tucked in between” the road and residents’ front yards.

Bill Seith, president of the Woodlands Homeowners Association and neighborhood resident since 1962, said in June that drainage problems in Woodlands have been around for more than 50 years and have gotten worse as the area’s houses have gotten bigger and its green space has become sparser.

“Over time, houses have been added; streets have been added,” said Seith, who bought his childhood house at 917 Cleveland Rd. from his parents in 1984. “Generally speaking in the Woodlands, there’s just a lot less pervious surface or open space for the water to run to.”

Geoga said that the SSA would only cover approximately 15 percent of the total cost of the project, will the entire village on the hook for the rest.