Village Hires Firm to Design Storm Water Solutions

The Whitefish Bay Village Board voted Monday night to pay a civil engineering firm as much as $312,000 to design storm water management tools in the southwest portion of the village.

The board unanimously approved the contract with Crispell Snyder, the civil engineering firm that conducted the study of the southwestern drainage basin, which is roughly bordered by Ardmore Avenue on the east, Henry Clay Street on the north, Shoreland Avenue on the west and Glendale Avenue on the south.

The in January, saying the plan could take up to nine years to implement, with most of the construction being done in the first four years.

The project would lower the grade of the western portion of by nine feet, allowing excessive water from Fairmount Avenue to dump into the park and then drain into the Milwaukee River within 24 to 48 hours through expanded pipes off of Wilson Drive in and storm sewer improvements on Hampton Road.

The southwest drainage basin plan would be incorporated in a larger, village-wide plan that addresses not only storm sewers but sanitary sewers. That overall plan could total $71.1 million to $93.5 million.

Village Engineer Dan Naze said the firm could start the design work immediately, with the goal of having the design work done by early fall of 2012. He said some of the actual construction could be started as soon as 2012.

Trustee James Roemer, a member of the village's Private Property Inflow and Infiltration Committee, said there are "flat-out deficiencies" in the design and construction of the village's existing storm water management system.

"Even if (the floods of) 2010 hadn't happened, we'd have to do this," he said.

The $312,000 contract to design the storm water solutions in the southwestern basin is expected to be paid with funds from a future borrowing. The village has applied for a $4 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency but has not yet heard whether it will be receiving the funds.

Included in the cost of the design contract are four public information meetings, as well as design and coordination meetings with village and/or school district staff. No construction costs are included in the design contract.

Naze said he did not seek other bidders because Crispell Snyder has been studying the area since the middle of 2010.

"I think since they have been involved since the beginning that it's natural that we continue to work with them," he said.

The cost of the design elements is as follows:

• $70,000 for detention facilities and ball field at Cahill Park;
• $88,000 for outfall design from Wilson Drive to the Milwaukee River;
• $104,000 for design work on the 4700 block road and utility reconstruction, including $43,800 for road and storm design, $26,200 for sanitary sewer design and $34,000 for watermain design; and
• $50,000 for the design of storm sewer improvements on Hampton Road.