Yorkville plans natural area at new city hall site

YORKVILLE – Renovation and remodeling work is underway inside the office building at 651 Prairie Pointe Drive, soon to become the new Yorkville City Hall.

Clearly visible in the distance to motorists traveling West Veterans Parkway (Route 34), the three-story building dominates the surrounding landscape, a flat featureless plain with the Yorkville Post Office to the south and the Countryside Shopping Center to the west.

As the city government prepares to occupy its new home, the question has arisen regarding what to do with the landscaping around the building along Prairie Pointe Drive and McHugh Road.

Should the city building be surrounded with a traditionally manicured lawn of turf grass? Or should it restore the area with natural prairie grasses and wildflowers?

At the recommendation of Public Works Director Eric Dhuse, the Yorkville City Council is opting for the natural look.

Aldermen approved a $42,700 contract with landscaping firm Pizzo and Associates of Leland to establish a mix of short prairie grasses and wildflowers on the property.

“What you see growing on site now is not representative of how the site will look when the new wildflower and short prairie mix is established,” Dhuse told aldermen in a report.

Returning the area to its natural state will not only be more beautiful, but more functional as well, Dhuse said.

“Restoring the naturalized area maintains the integrity of the design and the function of the storm water management plan,” Dhuse said.

The naturalized area is used for storm water storage on the site, eliminating the need for excavating a larger storm water basin.

“If we were to remove the naturalized area and fill it in to make it mowable, we would lose that storage,” Dhuse said.

The city would then need to add storage to the existing detention basin to comply with its own storm water ordinance, Dhuse said.

“The basins already have a stone bottom to prevent erosion, infiltration basins for large rainfall events, and piping to convey overflows to the storm water basin,” Dhuse said.

Installing conventional turf grass would require laborious engineering work, including removal of the stone bottom, adding black dirt to reduce the degree of the slopes and both raise existing manholes while installing more.

Moreover, turf grass would require weekly mowing and maintenance, Dhuse said.

Under the four-year deal with Pizzo, the landscaping firm would establish the prairie grass and wildflower mix and then return yearly to kill weeds or invasive plants.

After that, the city can enter into a maintenance agreement or handle the work itself, Dhuse said.