Contributed by Andy Hay
Spring is here and we are itching to make progress on the Rain Garden Project but we must be patient. The real visible work will not be until the fall. For now we have at least made some progress behind the scenes
Firstly, we applied in February to Lake County for an official opinion on who was responsible for the permitting process for Bays Park. We had already established it met the key criteria as a designated wetland, but since it is not directly adjacent to a physical body of water, we had hoped that it would fall under Lake County Jurisdiction and therefore not require an Army Corps Permit, and only need the Lake County Permit, which is a much faster, simpler process. The two Boards (Village and TLIA) agreed to fund the application for a formal “jurisdiction” and I am delighted to let you know that, in the opinion of Lake County Storm Water Management it falls under their jurisdiction. This will mean that, come the fall, when the contractors are selected and work is due to commence, we are not waiting anxiously for the arrival of the Army Corps permit, as we have been in the past with some of the silt removal and restoration projects.
No direct news yet on the formal 319 Grant Application. We do know that some unsuccessful applications have been notified already, so in that respect at least, no news is good news.
Hopefully, we will hear from the IL EPA soon.
We continue to diligently present and publish updates and educational articles on the Rain Garden Project, at all of the Village and TLIA Meetings, and to date, have raised almost $7,500 in value for the hours of matched activities recorded. A good start indeed but we still have a long way to go.
Please continue to watch for updates and if this has peaked your interest, then feel free to call me at 847. 736. 9640 for more information or to volunteer to help.
Click here to read the Volunteer Lake Measurement Program Summary.