Cahill Basin Work Will Begin May 15

Whitefish Bay trustees have chosen a contractor to oversee the Cahill Park detention basin project, which will begin in roughly one month.

The Whitefish Bay Village Board on Monday night awarded a $2.2 million contract, including a 5 percent contingency budget, to H&H Civil Construction, which has completed 75 ball field and grading projects in the past. The work is expected to begin on May 15.

The project consists of excavation, restoration, storm pipe reconstruction, parking lot reconstruction, and the reconstruction of the baseball field, which will be made of artificial turf. A new underdrain system would be built under the baseball field to manage excess rain water.

Friends of Bay Baseball's plans to install an artificial turf infield, two dugouts, a new scoreboard and concrete stadium seating are estimated to cost $400,000, which will be funded with a and a . Friends of Bay Baseball has so far provided the village with $75,000, and has signed a commitment to pay the remaining $125,000 to the village by July 1. 

Next month, the Village Board will be asked to approve a contract for the installation of a storm sewer pipe that would convey rain water through Estabrook Park and down to the Milwaukee River.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has awarded a $3.1 million grant for the storm sewer work slated over the next several years. With the grant funds, the state government and the village will split the remaining $1.1 million balance.

The board also approved Village Engineer Dan Naze's request to enter into a $35,000 contract for FEMA grant administration assistance, and a roughly $200,000 contract for engineering services.

The Cahill storm water management system would construct a dry detention basin with an eight- to nine-foot drop at the north end of the park by the softball field, allowing roughly 500,000 cubic feet of rain water to drain into the park and provide relief to at least 100 homes in the southern half of the village.

After 24 to 48 hours in the retention basin, the rain water would drain southward through a recessed passageway and empty into the storm sewer at Sheffield Avenue, then through a Hampton storm sewer before eventually discharging into the Milwaukee River at Estabrook Park.

With the Cahill plan and new pipe upgrades in place, the village's southwestern drainage basin – which can currently manage 2.6 inches in a 24-hour period – would then be able to handle 3.6 inches in a 24-hour period, or 5.9 inches in a 24-hour period with street ponding.