Water mains under Jackson Boulevard, from Harlem to Des Plaines, will be replaced this summer in a construction project that will improve the quality and delivery of water throughout the village, but prove disruptive, expensive and required juggling various sources of local and state funding sources to pull off.
At its March 9 meeting, Forest Park’s village council unanimously passed resolutions on how to spend Forest Park’s annual portion of the state gas tax and to use those Motor Fuel Tax funds to finance the construction on Jackson Boulevard.
The Illinois Department of Transportation annually distributes funds to municipalities from the Motor Fuel Tax, a 48-cent-per-gallon charge that the state places on gas. The Department requires municipalities to report how they plan to use their portion of the tax money.
This year, the village appropriated $595,000 of Motor Fuel Tax funds to maintain streets and highways, including the cost for salt, pavement markings, signage, streetlight and traffic signal maintenance. Forest Park’s state share for the 2027 fiscal year, which starts May, is over $665,000. Funds that aren’t used will remain in the village’s fund balance for future capital projects.
The council also approved a resolution that allows the village to use Motor Fuel Tax funds to finance part of the replacement of the water main under Jackson Boulevard. Because of increasing construction costs in recent years — and an IDOT requirement that the contractor had to complete over half of the projects themselves, garnering a single bidder — the project is now over $1 million more expensive than the village anticipated.
In 2022, construction on Jackson Boulevard’s water main and resurfacing was expected to cost $2.6 million. Now, it’s projected to cost over $3.7 million.
“It’s another really big expense that we are undertaking,” said Commissioner Maria Maxham during her commissioner’s comment at the end of the March 9 council meeting. “With the budget meetings coming up, I just wanted to remind everyone — not that you aren’t already aware — that the expenses add up really quickly, and a lot, lately.”
The village’s engineering consultant Christopher B. Burke Engineering has been working with the Illinois Department of Transportation for years on plans to replace the water main underneath Jackson Boulevard, which delivers water throughout the village and is over 50 years old. The project includes replacing the main line between Harlem and Des Plaines, along with lead service lines along the street. The street will be resurfaced, along with curbs, gutters, sidewalks, crosswalks and drainage structures.
While the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency is funding the mandated replacement of the lead service lines, the village is paying to replace the water main and resurface the street.
According to village staff, replacing the Jackson Boulevard water main right now is necessary, as it is beyond its useful life and has experienced multiple emergency main breaks.
Staff also said the village can absorb some of the increased expense by using $1.1 million from the Motor Fuel Tax funds instead of those from the VIP fund, which are used to finance village infrastructure.
Village Administrator Rachell Entler told the Review that IDOT has specific restrictions for Motor Fuel Tax funding, so staff recommends using them when the village is able.
“Per many discussions about the need for repairs to our municipal buildings, we want to maintain availability in the VIP fund for, not only road or alley infrastructure, but the municipal buildings that are in dire need of repair,” Entler said.
Another $1.8 million will come from the water fund and, once the project is further along, the village could get nearly $800,000 from the federally funded Surface Transportation Program. All project funding will come from restricted special funds and will not affect the village’s general fund, which covers daily municipal operational costs.
During his commissioner’s comment at the end of the March 9 council meeting, Mayor Rory Hoskins said he’s been talking for years about Forest Park joining the West Regional Enterprise Zone, or creating its own, to potentially lessen the cost of construction projects.
“An enterprise zone is a geographic district that has built in incentives designed to encourage investment. There are particular incentives to lessen the costs associated with new construction,” Hoskins said. “We have not been able to get permission from the communities that make up the West Regional enterprise zone to join. It requires unanimous consent from all the members.” Participating villages include Bellwood, Broadview, Maywood, Melrose Park and part of unincorporated Cook County.
Hoskins added that a group of mayors, including himself, is discussing creating a new enterprise zone and requested that commissioners research the Illinois Enterprise Zone program so they can discuss it come budgeting season this spring.
“It’s similar to a TIF, but it’s larger than a TIF,” Hoskins said. “It’s just an additional tool that we would have to attract business and investment to Forest Park and would make us more competitive in attracting new investment to Forest Park.”