Forest Park’s Village Council voted unanimously Aug. 8 to go out to bid for an alley improvement project and to accept a change order for the north water tank rehabilitation. 

The former involves rehabbing roughly 630 feet of a north-south alley near Harlem Avenue and Roosevelt Road. The latter will change the scope of work for the ongoing water tower rehabilitation, which had the net effect of decreasing the project cost by  $93,670. Commissioners approved both motions without discussion. 

The alley project includes alleys in the area between Harlem Avenue, Filmore Street, Elgin Avenue and Roosevelt Road. The alleys will be repaved, stormwater drainage will be rehabilitated, and all of the other structures will be repaired. The project is funded entirely through the village budget.

The bids are due by Aug. 30, so the earliest the village council can choose the bidder is the Sept. 12 council meeting.

The change order deals with the rehab of one of the two village water towers that are used to maintain water pressure and store water in case of emergency. The village also has two water tanks – one under the Mohr Community Center playground and one under the Hannah Avenue pump station. The village is currently rehabbing the north water tower, 7435 Franklin St.

According to the memo from Christopher B. Burke Engineering, the village’s engineering contractor, it’s looking to remove the existing fence and guardrail east of the water tank, install a new pedestrian gate, and install J-hooks in the access tube to help support the T-Mobile cellular antenna infrastructure on the top of the tower. 

While this added to the cost, they were also able to reduce the price of repainting the tank exterior. According to a July 26 memo from Sherwin-Williams, the paint supplier for the project, it suggested applying a new coat of paint on top of the existing one – a practice known as “overcoating” – instead of completely replacing the paint. The memo stated that the new coat of paint has a life expectancy of 15-25 years.

Overall, the change order brought down the project  cost from around $1.06 million to $969,880.