Cantigny Outdoor Education Center
Planning and preparation for the Cantigny Outdoor Education Center began two years ago between Cantigny and DLA Architects Ltd. The 3100 square foot building will be located at the Cantigny site located at 1S 151 Winfield Road in Wheaton, Illinois. The Cantigny site is part of a 500 acre park which includes golf courses, museums, and one of the largest display gardens in the Midwest. Cantigny is part of the McCormick Foundation, which is one of the largest public charities in the country. The new building will serve as an education center with a meeting room and shower facilities for Cantigny’s use, as well as for the Boy Scouts of America troops who frequently have outings there.
The Outdoor Education Center will be a LEED Certified building and currently is seeking LEED Gold Status. Of the 42 total LEED points required, W-T Civil Engineering will provide documents for:
Construction Activity Pollution Prevention (Prerequisite 1)
- Storm Water Management Quantity Control (Credit 6.1)
- Storm Water Management Quality Control (Credit 6.2)
To meet the requirements of the U.S. Green Building Council and achieve these credits, W-T Civil Engineering designed a rain garden with infiltration trenches and native plantings. This design will improve the quality of the storm water runoff from the project and help to satisfy the DuPage County Best Management Practice Requirements.
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Construction on the Cantigny Outdoor Education Building began last month and is scheduled to be open the summer of 2010.
Several site-engineering challenges created numerous unique civil design opportunities for W-T Civil Engineering. These distinctive civil design attributes include:
- DuPage County Storm Water Requirements including BMP Design
- IEPA Sewer Main construction and permitting
- LEED Design
Chicago Stormwater Management Updates and Tips
As mentioned in a previous newsletter, in 2008 the City of Chicago revised their Department of Water Management Ordinance in an effort to add new storm water management requirements. The new requirements included amended runoff quantity and quality control measures aimed to reduce the overall volume of runoff leaving a developed site. Also included are recommended rate level runs-offs as stated in Rate Control of Storm Water (Part 3 of the Ordinance) and Volume Control of Storm Water (Part 4 of the Ordinance).
Rate Control of Storm Water (Detention) has always been a part of the Chicago Department of Water Management Ordinance; however, Volume Control was just added in 2008.
There are several design options available to meet the new Volume Control Requirement. The most common designs include BMPS (Best Management Practices). These BMPs include items such as Rain Gardens, Permeable Pavers, Bio-infiltration Systems and Vegetated Filter Strips.
One other option often overlooked is the reduction in impervious area from existing to proposed conditions. If there is a net 15% reduction in impervious area on a proposed development, the development will be exempt from the Volume Control Portion of the Ordinance. It is often difficult to reduce building and paved surfaces by 15% on crowded city sites; however, for every tree planted on site within 20 feet of a paved surface, the new Ordinance will allow for a credit of 100 square feet of reduction of impervious area. 
With the addition of trees, the 15% reduction becomes easier to achieve. Adding more trees will not only beautify the site, they will also reduce storm water management requirements and associated costs for typical Best Management Practice improvements.
Valparaiso University Career Fair
In September, Jeff Gutowsky, Todd Abrams, and Josh St. Clair of W-T Civil Engineering attended their fourth Annual Valparaiso University Career Fair. The Career Fair was held in the University’s new student union which opened spring, 2009. W-T representatives met students and discussed opportunities for summer internships and co-op positions at W-T Civil Engineering.
W-T Civil Engineering Recruitment Team