Pilcher Park dam’s future still uncertain

JOLIET – The future of the Pilcher Park Dam on Hickory Creek is foggy.

What the Joliet Park District and the host of state and federal agencies involved in the dam’s future will do still remains to be seen, Dominic Egizio, the district’s executive director, said.

“The next step is to determine what’s behind it [the dam] and if it can be removed,” Egizio said during an open house and special meeting Tuesday of the Joliet Park District Board at the Pilcher Park Nature Center.

About 40 people turned out for the meeting, which featured several displays presented by civil engineers from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife want the dam removed to restore aquatic habitat on Hickory Creek lost during flood control modifications made there from 1985 to 2005 by IDNR, said Rick Gosch, a planning manager with the state agency.

The district’s main concern is liability, Egizio said. The concrete surface of the Depression-era structure is cracking and peeling.

“If that dam collapses, it’s the park district’s responsibility to deal with,” Egizio said.

The dam is one of 16 aging, nonfunctional dams across the state being targeted for demolition under Gov. Pat Quinn’s Illinois Dam Removal Initiative. The $10 million program is designed to remove the dams and restore waterways to their original free-flowing condition.

At Hickory Creek, this means water levels will fluctuate in response to rain and outflows from storm sewers and waste water treatment plants that discharge into the waterway, according to park district officials. The 3,000-foot-long pool behind the dam would be reduced in depth and width to a free-flowing state similar to the section of Hickory Creek near Gougar Road.

IDNR says the restoration will allow fish and mussels to migrate upstream, improving conditions for both endangered species and for local fishermen.

Several residents of the Highland Park neighborhood who live near the dam spoke out against the plan at the meeting.

Dr. Helen Straus said the decision to demolish the dam already appears to have been made by the Corps.

“We haven’t heard anything about why it would be a good idea to take the dam out,” Straus said.

Jeff Lindstrom, a retired biologist and member of the Save the Pilcher Park Dam Facebook group, also questioned the need for demolition.

“My major concern is why does it have to be removed?” Lindstrom said. “Why can’t it be renovated?”

Lindstrom said he was told by a former IDNR engineer that the dam would cost about $600,000 to renovate.

“If somebody has money to tear it out, they should have money to renovate it,” Lindstrom said.

Debra Perrie told the board that “a lot of people think you are going to dry up Hickory Creek” if the dam is removed.

Jay Gregory, who owns 15 acres along the waterway, said Hickory Creek was beautiful above the dam and all the way back to Frankfort. But the creek below the dam is another story because of all the flood control work, he said.

“If you take out the dam, it will just be a channel from here to the river that you can dump your sewage in,” Gregory said.

But not everyone was against demolishing the dam.

Bruce Renwick, an Audubon Society member, said free-flowing water would be more beneficial to birds and wildlife.

“I don’t see the dam as being necessary or useful,” Renwick said. “It’s just a place to grow algae. ... It’s just another retention pond.”