Visitation Parish Additions and Remodeling
Visitation Parish is an existing Catholic Church and School that sits on a 9.5 acre campus located off South York Road in Elmhurst, IL. It was originally founded in June, 1953. As the membership and services have grown on the campus, the church has sought to increase the size of both their Parish Center and their educational facility. Planning for the addition to the Parish Center and educational facility began early 2006 between DLA Architects, Ltd. and the Visitation Parish Church.
The project will consist of the demolition of the existing parking lot located in the center of the existing site, as well as the demolition of the existing Madonna Hall Building. The proposed Parish Center addition will consist of an upper main level with several multi-purpose rooms, and a lower level with a storage area, a choral room, and several other facilities. The addition footprint will be approximately 7300 square feet. The educational facility renovations will include the addition of classroom space as well as several internal renovations to the mechanical equipment inside the existing building.
A new parking lot will be constructed with approximately 200 parking spaces and roadway access which will link Kearsage Avenue to South York Road. There will also be improved internal circulation via a new turn around drive-thru which will allow members to be dropped off in front of the Parish Center.
Several site-engineering challenges created unique civil design opportunities for W-T Civil Engineering, LLC. These distinctive civil design attributes include:
1) Underground Storm Water Detention (10’ Deep Vault); 2) IEPA Sewer Main construction and permitting; and 3) Best Management Practices for All Storm Water Run-off.
Visitation Parish hopes to break ground on the project in summer 2010.
View of Main Entry Canopy
Entrance View from the South
Revisions to the Kane County Stormwater Ordinance
Since W-T Civil Engineering employs 2 of the 145 “Kane County Qualified Engineers,” we received early notification that the Stormwater Ordinance is being revised effective January 1, 2010. Many of the revisions will not be applicable to typical developments; however, there is one revision that will be applicable. This revision is the addition of “Article 16-Retention Best Management Practices.” For your reference, we have provided a link for more information: http://www.co.kane.il.us/kcstorm/
Since 2001, Kane County has required that the first ¾” of runoff from impervious areas be retained for at least five (5) days. The previous Ordinance was difficult to satisfy since the retained water and the allowable release rate were both small. This resulted in a very slow flow rate, which made a typical restrictor system impossible to meet. Furthermore, the retained water was generally completely contained within the bottom of the detention pond. When a dry detention basin was desired, the result was often a soggy bottom that was unusable, even in relatively dry times. The latest revision allows the designer to completely or partially provide the retention requirement via other measures such as:
- Permeable Interlocking Concrete Pavements
- Rain Gardens
- Infiltration Trenches
- Level Spreader and Filter Strips
- Naturalized Stormwater Basins
Naturalized Stormwater Basin
W-T Civil Engineering is proud to be on the cutting edge of ordinance revisions within the Chicagoland area. We look forward to an opportunity to use our expertise to reduce permitting time and to meet the requirements as efficiently as possible while minimizing environmental impacts. This will provide greater service to our clients and potential savings.