Thursday, Aug. 17

Engineers propose regional detention pond for Lincoln's west side       Send a link to a friend

[AUG. 17, 2006]  Lincoln sewer committee members and Mayor Beth Davis received the first report this week of a water flow study. The city of Lincoln contracted Greene and Bradford of Springfield to conduct the study of the west side to address existing flood problems and plan for future development.

A main concern in urban development is where water will go when building changes water absorption and flow. Water control is an essential part of the plan as previously open ground that absorbed rainwater is covered by roofs, drives, streets and large expanses of parking pavement, as well as often interrupting natural causeways.

The flow study addresses residential flooding problems in Stonebridge subdivision, factors into the redevelopment of Fifth Street Road, and views both current and future residential and commercial developments for the area. It encompasses the area between Fifth Street and Route 10-Woodlawn Road from Lincoln Parkway west, along with adjacent areas that are affected to the north and south.

Chris Bott of Greene and Bradford and Jack Guillous, a private consultant of Springfield, explained that they were presenting a concept to the committee and would be asking if they should proceed in this direction. Their recommendation is to create a regional detention pond, on flood plain property, that would serve the entire area.

A regional detention pond has several advantages:

  1. It would serve as flood control for the entire area and encompasses future development. The design would be a two-tier pond that allows excess water to overflow into Kickapoo Creek.

  2. It takes flood plain property that cannot be built on and frees up usable land. There are already a number of detention ponds -- for Kroger, Sysco, the new Wal-Mart and FedEx -- that could be eliminated and the land reclaimed for development.

  3. The pond would have an undulating shape, making it suitable as a recreation area. The land around the pond would be usable as a park. Soccer and ball fields could be developed.

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A planner would need to be involved to do this.


Flood plain land not suitable for development would make a good detention area.

The proposed location is just east of Allison Lake, adjacent to it. Part of the property is the flood plain area of the county farm. It would involve several other acres that are privately owned. The engineers suggested that the property owners would probably be amenable to trading with the city for developable land.

The biggest drawback was that, if developed for recreation, it would not be accessible during the occasional times that Kickapoo Creek is out of its banks. And maybe to fishermen, the only fish in the pond would be what is in the creek.

The committee agreed that this is a plan they would like to pursue. The consultants will move to the next phase, which is to gather actual water flow measurements. They will gather these from the city engineer, county highway engineers and Illinois Department of Transportation.

The next step after measurements would be to begin looking at costs.

[Jan Youngquist]

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