DETENTION BASINS for RECREATION?

Recreational facilities in Naperville are taking a giant step forward as a result of cooperation on the part of the Park District, City, School District, Little League and land developers.

As a result of this cooperation, Naperville taxpayers will have two large multi-purpose areas which will provide detention basin parks with storm sewer storage capable of containing a 100 year downpour, water recharge capabilities and beautiful parks. The parks will be landscaped, terraced and designed specifically for recreation purposes.

These two detention basins mark a first for the State of Illinois in complete design of multi-purpose recreation facilities. Input from the Park District on their needs and on recreation designs was spearheaded by IPRS President Ernest Nance, former Executive Director of the Naperville Park District and now Director in Park Ridge.

One of the facilities, called the Charles Street Detention Basin Park, will have a complete, lighted, Little League complex. This aspect of the park will be paid for with a $15,000 donation by the Naperville Little League.

Both detention basin parks will have a terraced look with gentle, contoured and meandering slopes. These slopes, in addition to providing an attractive look and detaining rain water during storms, also fill one of the safety factors in the design. In the event that the basin was filled with water following a storm, a child would have to walk out ten feet into the water in order to get one foot deep. The structures within the basin are designed so they do not have a high velocity and they are covered with sturdy grates.

Land for the multi-purpose facilities was donated by the land developers as part of their contributions to the City of Naperville's Park-School Land Donation ordinance. The recreational development of the land is expected to increase the value of the adjacent land.

This detention basin at Texton-Country Commons in Naperville will be developed into multi-use recreation land.

Basins had already been on the land with capabilities of holding back a 10 year storm but there was no multiple use. The City is expanding on the basic use with a more complex design.

In addition, the 10 acre Charles Street Detention Basin is located adjacent to the Prairie School and provides a recreation link for the school and for the Action Center program which the Park District sponsors at the school sites.

The City and School District are currently negotiating on the design for a third area where recreation facilities will be used at a Junior High School on a land donated by developers for storm water detention. The Park District expects there to be two ballfields, a track and a flag football field in this detention area.

The water retention and recharge processes should not disrupt the use of the Charles Street facility often. Ned P. Becker, Director of Public Works and City Engineer for Naperville, and Lindley and Sons, Inc., of Hinsdale, consultants on the projects, estimate that the maximum amount of rain water in the basin would be that 20 times during the year, there would be three inches of water and it would take an hour to drain; that 10 times a year, there would be six inches of water and it would take two and a half hours to drain; that five times a year, there would be nine inches of water and it would take four hours to

Illinois Parks and Recreation 10 January/February, 1974

St. Charles Street basin is graded and ready for sodding. It will be used for Little League baseball fields.

drain; that the annual storm would store 20 inches of water and it would take 12 hours to drain, and that the 100 year storm would take the maximum storage to a depth of four feet and that it would take 72 hours to drain from the time of the first raindrop. There is an overflow spillway and downstream outlet for any greater amount of water. No homes would suffer from flood damage.

The water recharge use of the basins is equally important because, in being contained on the grassy area, the rainwater will go into the ground-water supply. This will conserve the great natural resource, the groundwater supply, and harness the water for future use by preventing the groundwater supply from dwindling.

Of importance to the recreation uses, are the plans that the City Engineer has made to control silt from depositing on the grassy areas after storms. The area drains at a controlled rate and has a trap built on the inlet side.

Maintenance of all the storm drainage pipes and facilities will be done by the City. The Park District will maintain the recreation facilities.

Adcock Excavatng Co. of Hinsdale was awarded the low bid for the Charles Street project at $59,147. Hamer Enterprises, the developer of Pembroke Greens, will pay $10,000 in cash as its share of the construction cost. The builders will also reduce the cost of the project by using the dirt fill which will be removed from the basin, saving the cost of transporting it.

The contract for the other basin, which covers 18 acres, is expected to be completed in November. It was awarded to Advance Construction Co. This land was donated by the Tekton Corp. of Oak Brook, developers of the adjacent property. Tekton also contributed $75,000 of the $125,000 construction cost, with the remainder being paid by the City and Park District.

All of these sites are suitable for ballfields, tennis courts, shuffleboard, playgrounds, tot lots and a myriad of recreation uses, in addition to providing needed open space within the City limits.

Illinois Parks and Recreation 11 January/February, 1974