Civil Engineering Services for Educational Facilities
Serving public and private clients in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Iowa.
Bono Consulting has prepared plans for hundreds of sites that required a civil engineer’s analysis to improve existing drainage. Many property owners notice problems after heavy rainstorms, especially ponding in low-lying areas or being inundated with runoff from adjacent properties. This can cause basement flooding or lead to an unusable lawn. Per Illinois Drainage law, the landowner must accept surface water flowing naturally from higher ground and is not allowed to block the neighbor’s runoff from coming onto the property.
The trick is to raise the grades in the center of the yard to maximize dry usable space and collect water from around the site perimeter. Our engineers help the property owner develop a grading plan that collects the storm runoff water and brings it out to the sewer main.
Our firm has also prepared numerous plans for rainwater harvesting systems. These systems collect rainwater from the downspouts and pass it to a large underground storage tank. The water is then reused to water the lawn and landscaping. This is a great way to improve the sustainability of your property. The water can then be pumped out to either a hose spigot or to a lawn sprinkler system.
Bono Consulting is also experienced in assisting homeowners who add impervious surfaces like new patios, decks, or driveways to their property. Many neighborhoods will require an engineer to prepare a drainage plan that accounts for the additional runoff or potential for ponding. This is important for community safety, but it’s also a good idea for homeowners to consider getting an engineer’s opinion even if their neighborhood doesn’t require it.
Featured Projects
Kiddie Academy — Glenview, Illinois
Bono Consulting was hired to provide engineering design for a new daycare facility in Glenview on Waukegan Road that required permitting with the Village of Glenview, MWRD and IDOT. The development consolidated several parcels that include a commercial building, two single family homes and a vacated roadway. We prepared grading and utility plans for the entire site including a large, stormwater detention vault that was installed under the rear parking lot. The challenge with this project was with the concurrent construction of a large apartment building adjacent to the site to the south. Our site required access via the apartment building under construction, so we had to coordinate with a separate engineering consultant to make sure the shared accesses would be viable and that all grading would work. The new driveway on Waukegan Road was also difficult to become permitted due to the adjacent development also putting in a driveway right near the Daycare. The…
Carpenter Elementary School – Park Ridge, IL
Bono Consulting was recruited to assist Community Consolidated School District 64 (CCSD 64) with design and construction observation for site drainage improvements, a new teacher parking lot, new soccer fields, and playgrounds at the K-5 school. The teacher’s parking lot had poor drainage with no storm sewers, making it very dangerous with all the ice in the wintertime. The soccer fields also had inadequate drainage and were unplayable for several days after a rain event. Park Ridge is a combined sewer area under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD). The challenge on this site was to design underdrains that would collect water from under the playgrounds and soccer fields, route it through an underground StormTrap® detention system, and provide an outlet in a combined sewer. We staged many negotiations with MWRD. In the end, we decided to pump the detention storage to an underground infiltration system with a bubbler,…
Synthetic Turf Sport Field Replacement for Notre Dame High School – Niles, IL
Bono Consulting provided engineering design and construction assistance for Notre Dame High School’s project to replace the athletic field, track, and artificial turf and design a new fieldhouse. We incorporated an innovative strategy that placed the stormwater detention beneath the field in the voids of the rock base course. The designs also included an overland discharge through a rain garden, utilizing a more sustainable method to separate the field underdrains from the MWRD combined sewer. Construction has since been completed, and the fields are in full use. Permits Required: Niles, MWRD, & SWPPP Civil Engineering Illinois | Storm Water Management Engineering