North High Expansion Could Cost More than Planned

A delay by DuPage County in adopting new stormwater management ordinances could end up forcing to spend an additional $500k to $600k to build a large water retention basin at .

Less restrictive stormwater laws were expected to be enacted by the County in January, but with the County now expected to enact those ordinances in April, D99 is forced with a situation of spending more money under the tighter laws now or risk not getting the permits and construction done in time for the start of the 2012-2013 school year.

"My understanding is the County is still fiddling with the details of the new rules, so they haven't formally haven't adopted them," said Marty Schack, D99's Director of Physical Plant and Operations. "A timeline wasn't met."

Typically, it takes the about two months to adopt new rule changes from the County, according to Schack. That translates into the new ordinances taking effect in June, well after D99's need to start construction in April in order to finish by mid-August.

"If we weren't to finish the work by mid-August we'd have a disruptive campus when the kids return," Schack said.

While Schack stated on Monday during the D99 meeting the money was in the construction budget, there was little expectation the money would be needed for a retention basin and in turn some of those funds had been earmarked for other aspects of the project.

The next step for Schack and D99 is to approach the Village and the County to see if they can get a waiver on the current rules. As Schack first heard of the County's delay on Monday, a lot of questions were still without answers, including whether or not the Village would be willing to grant D99 an exception.

"Right now I'm being told there's no way [we're getting a waiver] but we're not leaving it at that," Schack said. "We're going to find a way."