|
Lake Belle View Restoration Project
Annual Update - 2004
The following table outlines the remaining steps (phases) in the project through the Section 206 Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration program administered by the Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) that the Village is participating in. This program is a cost sharing program: 65% Federal funds and 35% Local Sponsor (Village of Belleville) funds.
|
Project Phase |
Estimated amount of time to complete phase |
Estimated start date (as indicated in December 2003 annual update to taxpayers) |
Actual or revised estimate start date as of December 2004 |
|
Definitive Project Report (DPR) submitted to ACOE Division for approval |
3 months |
December 2003 |
October 2004
(actual) |
|
Plans and Specifications (finalize detail design and prepare construction documents |
6 months |
April 2004 |
February 2005 (estimate) |
|
Project Cooperation Agreement (PCA) |
No specific timeframe to sign |
Fall 2004 |
Fall 2005
(estimate) |
|
Project construction |
12 months |
Spring 2005 |
Winter 2005
(estimate) |
The submission of the Definitive Project Report was delayed primarily around concerns expressed by the DNR around 3.5 acres of land to be used as part of the containment site for dredged material that they felt were quality wetland that could not be disturbed. ACOE and DNR worked through this issue earlier this year. The remaining delay was primarily driven by funding problems ACOE experienced. As indicated above, the DPR was finally submitted to Division in October.
ACOE funding for project like ours was interrupted this year. The War in Iraq was a contributing factor as well as the Presidential Election which contributed to delays in approving the Federal budget for Fiscal Year 2005 (which started in October). The budget is still not approved. We contacted our Legislators seeking their assistance in securing funding in the budget for our project. We do not know if we were successful.
There was some good news this year! The Village again applied for DNR Lake and River grants. This time we were successful and we received a "pre-award" notification letter on September 1st and are currently working with the DNR to finalize details of the award which would give the project $250,000 of funding towards project costs.
Despite the delays and those things outside of our control, the project continues to move forward albeit at a slow pace. We are optimistic that the project will gain Division approval and move into the Plans and Specifications phase. This is arguably the most critical phase of the project! The Committee has identified a number of questions and issues that MUST be addressed during Plans and Specifications as part of the final detail design. This will be important to assure that both the Committee and the Village Board have as much information on project costs and project design details as possible when Village is presented with the Project Cooperation Agreement (PCA), the contract that commits the Village financially to its 35% share of costs.
I hope this update is informative but this project is such that it is nearly impossible to cover everything to a level of detail that would meet everyone's needs. Remember that our committee generally meets monthly on the first Monday of the month at 5:30pm at Village Hall and these meetings are open to the public. If you are interested in getting detailed information, I would suggest you review the Definitive Project Report (DPR) available at the Belleville Public Library.
| 
