With grant unlikely, Kenilworth beach project to rely on reserves

While hopes for federal funding are fading, Kenilworth’s shoreline protection project will be able to go ahead, because the village has made certain it has enough money in its coffers to complete the job, Kenilworth Board President Cecily Kaz said Tuesday. 

She told trustees Monday at their August Village Board meeting that “it’s not looking hopeful” — a message board members also heard at their July meeting.

Kenilworth applied last summer for a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and originally expected to hear in March if they’d gotten the grant, former Village Manager Patrick Brennan said in April. If Kenilworth did get an award, it could cover as much as 75 percent of the project, he said; however, delays meant FEMA might not announce grants until this fall, he told trustees at the time.

But village officials haven’t heard any news from FEMA since then. At this point, Kaz said, they have gone forward with plans for both the shoreline protection efforts and the project to turn Kenilworth’s former water treatment plant into a modern community beach facility. 

Without FEMA money, Kenilworth will still be able to pay for the shoreline project, because the village has made financial preparations for any “Plan B” necessities, Kaz said. 

“The good news is that we have been preparing for this for some time. A year ago the board looked at estimated project costs, for both the full project and the shoreline infrastructure project,” she said. “We have adequate funding for the shoreline project.” 

Trustees decided in April to go with the more basic and less expensive of two shoreline protection designs from consultant GZA Geoenvironmental. The one they chose, popularly known as the “I” design, would create a protective line or armor rocks extending straight out into the lake and would cost $992,893. A more ambitious “T” plan, which would have added a crossbar of rocks across the initial line, would have cost $1.3-$1.4 million.

In March, residents approved a $2.5 million bond issue, which will make up a significant segment of the $8.4 million officials expect to spend on the water plan and beach modernization effort. Additional funding for that is predicated on using about $3.3 million in existing fund balances, and on raising at least $2.5 million in donations, Brennan said at the time.

In July, trustees agreed that the project should include an ADA-compliant ramp to the beach, rather than a replacement elevator, which often didn’t work. The final ramp design has not yet been determined. 

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