Demolition of an 81-year-old water tower — unused for more than 50 years just south of Washington Street on Keller Avenue in Waukegan — started on Oct. 31 and went without a hitch for the first few weeks.
But, when snow and strong winds arrived on Nov. 21, problems began for neighbors of the site.
Antonio Dominguez, the city’s water plant supervisor, said two weeks before the project began letters were mailed to approximately 150 people near the water tower to let them know about the project, which was scheduled to last approximately six weeks.
“We didn’t have any complaints, but we did have an issue when we had the snow and really high winds,” he said at Monday’s City Council meeting, referring to the Nov. 21 snowstorm. “There was a lot of debris blowing. We did talk to residents after the complaints.”
Dominguez said water cannons are used to blow water on the concrete dust as part of the demolition process to keep the residue from blowing too far from the tower. With the colder temperatures, the water freezes when it mixes with the dust and hits items on the ground.
City officials are now working with Leopardo Construction to compensate residents in the vicinity of the water tower for incurred property damage, and are taking steps to mitigate potential danger as the project nears completion.
Depending on the weather, Dominguez said the project should be complete by the middle of next week.
Ald. Thomas Hayes, 9th Ward, questioned Dominquez and representatives of both Leopardo and Alpine Construction at Monday’s meeting about the situation. Alpine is the demolition subcontractor. Hayes let the council know the damage of blowing dust is severe and dangerous.
Before the meeting, Hayes said he knocked on about 15 doors and talked to seven or eight people who live near the water tower. He personally experienced the danger of the dusty ice.
“I saw the dust,” he said. “I slipped on the dust that was frozen on the cement. It was, in fact, there. As you know, it was there covering cars. One car, I could not even tell what color it was. One woman is not putting out her Christmas decorations because they would be covered in dust.”
Built in the 1940s, the water tower was decommissioned approximately 50 years ago because there were more effective ways to get water to the area, Dominquez said. Mayor Ann Taylor said in October the building was becoming a refuge for homeless people.
“It was not only excessive, but it was getting dangerous,” she said. “People were sleeping there, and we decided to get it down.”
Taylor questioned Leopardo and Alpine representatives about reports there was asbestos inside the tower which was escaping into the atmosphere. Ben Maust of Leopardo assured her there was none there.
“There was asbestos in the building that was abated before Alpine came to do their work,” Maust said. “The abatement was looked at by a contractor and was third-party reviewed. They confirmed there was no other asbestos on site. We removed all of that prior to any dust-creating demolition.”
Hayes said he was told by residents whose property was damaged because of the dust frozen to their cars and other harm to their property they would receive monetary compensation. Company representatives said it would happen.
“I will send you the list to take care of it,” Hayes said. “A resident told me the water was freezing in the street, and cars were slipping and sliding.”
As the construction process started more than a month ago, the construction crew punched a hole in the top with an eight-foot, five-ton jackhammer device. Dominguez said large claws affixed to a crane were used to pull the concrete off the structure and dump it inside to keep debris from falling onto neighboring land.
