The conditions of the reservoir underneath the Mohr Community Center’s have deteriorated to the point that the concrete slab that the playground sits on must be completely replaced, a survey of the area showed.
The reservoir sits under the playground and the north “clubhouse” section of the community center. The village has been aware of the issues with the reservoir for months, which is why the construction of the new playground, a priority for Mayor Rory Hoskins, has been paused. But the question has been: How bad is it?
According to the report, some support beams deteriorated to the point where some had to be shored up immediately, and the contractor is recommending the more expensive shoring up further down the line. But more alarmingly, it found that the concrete slab deteriorated to the point where it wasn’t safe for kids to play on it. The contractor, Des Plaines-based J.V. Henik, is recommending replacing it with a thicker, stronger slab and keeping an eye on the slab’s condition in the interim for signs of further deterioration.
Hoskins told the Review that the playground has been closed until further notice. He said that based on the report, the village is confident that the emergency shoring up will keep the foundation under the daycare stable, but the parents were notified of the situation after the report was released.
The report comes as the village continues to talk with Forest Park School District 91 about using the former Grant-White Intermediate Elementary School building to house some of their programs. Hoskins first brought the idea to the district Board of Education last fall, when issues not just with the reservoir, but the community center building itself, were apparent.
The reservoir under the Mohr Community Center is one of the two reservoirs the village uses to hold water it gets from the City of Chicago before sending it out into the village pipes. That and the one under the Hannah Avenue pump station can each hold up to 1 million gallons.
The playground dates back to the 1980s and hasn’t received any significant updates. Hoskins made replacing it with something newer a priority, but the village wanted to check the reservoir before finalizing anything. By the summer of 2023, it was clear that there had been deterioration, so the village contracted Henik to figure out just how extensive it was.
The village shared the first three pages of the report with the Review. It said that they have to install 28 shoring posts under the community center’s daycare area “to support the one-way beams due to the extent of their deterioration.” It flagged the fact that reinforcement along two construction joints “has rusted away and is no longer present,” and suggested either shoring them up or regularly checking on their status for signs of further deterioration.
Perhaps more alarming is the state of the six-inch concrete slab under the playground. The report said that “at a number of locations, concrete deterioration was so extensive, the asphalt on the above play lot was visible from the underside.”
“In establishing a construction repair budget, we have determined that the bottom reinforcement of the slab is 100% deteriorated. In many cases the reinforcement has dissolved from rust,” the report’s authors said, noting that in some of the concrete samples taken by National Restoration Systems, the Rolling Meadows-based concrete restoration contractor, “depth of deterioration was measuring approximately 4 [inches] out of a 6 [inch] slab.”
Henik recommended that “there [should] be no live load on the top slab henceforward until repairs are made.”
The contractor recommended replacing the current slab with the 8-inch slab made out of lighter concrete, and putting in a waterproofing membrane.
The costs of such a project is not clear. Hoskins also didn’t share the details of the report during the Jan. 8 village council meeting, but he mentioned that the village had “concerns about the long-term viability” of keeping Mohr Community Center running.
“I actually talked to my kids and told me how, at some point years ago. [when they attended daycare], they smelled dirty water,” he added.
Hoskins said that the village is applying for federal funding to repair and potentially replace the reservoir.