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RATIFICATION OF CONTRACT FOR
EMERGENCY LAKEFRONT EROSION THREAT ASSESSMENT
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To the Honorable Board of Commissioners of the Chicago Park District:
On January 10-12, 2020, the City of Chicago was subject to a damaging Lake Michigan storm, with high winds and large waves. The January 2020 storm, which came during a period of very high Lake Michigan water levels, caused damage to some buildings on, or close to, the lakefront and highlighted the vulnerability of those structures to future storms, when lake levels could potentially be still higher. Beyond buildings, other public assets were also impacted. Several transportation corridors were either partially or fully closed, and several areas owned by the Chicago Park District were subject to overtopping, flooding, erosion and damage.
The Chicago Park District and their partner, Chicago Department of Transportation, immediately mobilized inspection teams to assess the lakefront. The inspection teams were comprised of Architectural/Building Structural, Civil/Coastal and Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing (MEP) professionals. The teams visited approximately 100 buildings located along the lakefront (predominantly in the 7th Ward, 48th Ward and 49th Ward) to collect information related to the nature and extent of damage sustained and to assess future vulnerability. Visits to private property were coordinated through the City of Chicago (Department of Buildings, OEMC, CDOT or other departments). Visits to Park District or City of Chicago property were coordinated with relevant staff from those agencies. Teams used a customized mobile device survey tool to collect comparable information at each property.
Each property was visually assessed for the potential for lakefront flooding to cause life-threatening situations as well as damage and disruption. Wherever possible, the inspection teams asked questions of the building owner, management representative, or other building employee related to experience with lakefront flooding. All of this information was collected for the purpose of informing the Chicago Park District and City of Chicago of potential vulnerability.
The inspection team compiled findings into a single risk and vulnerability matrix with an initial qualitative vulnerability rating derived from the estimates of “consequences of flooding” and “likelihood of flooding.” The matrix will allow the Chicago Park District to conduct a prioritization of potential resilience options.
Finally, the inspection team identified potential options that may be deployed in 2020 to increase resilience at some of the locations. Since the lakefront properties are often unique in the building materials, age and condition, the inspection team organized the solution types and illustrated them in typical applications, with magnitude of cost.
Accordingly, on January 23, 2020, the General Superintendent and CEO submitted a memorandum to the President of the Board of Commissioners (“President”) requesting her approval to suspend competitive bidding and execute immediate purchase orders with one company pursuant to the Code of the Chicago Park District, Chapter 11, Section C, 2, d and Section D, 1, b, (2), (b). The request was approved by the President. The funding of each approved request was not to exceed $200,000. The City of Chicago has agreed to pay for this work and reimburse the Park District for the costs of this contract.
As a result of the foregoing, it is recommended that the Board of Commissioners ratify the purchase order for engineering services that were approved on January 23, 2020.