Freeport revisits Walnut Avenue lift station as residents challenge use of Lamb Road TIF funds

Freeport’s Committee of the Whole spent much of its July 14 meeting discussing a proposed lift station at Walnut Avenue intended to bypass an inverted sewer line running through the city landfill and protect heavy industrial flows from the Lamb Road district. Public works presenter Darren Stiekel told the council the existing gravity sewer that carries Lamb Road industrial wastewater runs through older landfill cells that have settled and now invert, trapping flow. He said the proposed pump station would collect flows from the district — including large users such as Snack King — and push them via a 16‑inch force main about 4,000 feet under the river to an existing manhole and the city interceptor. "Some of our heaviest industrial flows are from the Lamb Road District. A matter of fact, Snack King is our largest industrial user," Stiekel said, adding Snack King contributes "about a 140,000 gallons a day." He described the proposed station as having 100‑horsepower pumps capable of 2,700 gallons per minute, an allowance for future expansion (a wet well attachment), roughly 4,000 feet of force main and about 1,500 feet of new gravity main to abandon the failing line. The project, Stiekel and other staff said, is intended as a permanent fix so the city will not need to get permits to dig up unregulated landfill cells 2 and 3. City staff said the project has been designed and permitted, that it has been bid and that a potential contract award is scheduled for July 18. The proposal prompted sharp public comment and questions from aldermen about timing, scope and funding. Rhonda Scott, a Fourth Ward resident, urged the council not to spend TIF funds on the lift station, saying Lamb Road TIF money "was set up as an industrial TIF" and that "businesses out there have been flushing their toilets just fine for the last 19 years." Scott said the city should not use roughly "$3,000,000" in TIF proceeds to build the station and asserted the lift station does not appear in the Lamb Road TIF reports filed with the state comptroller. Alderman Sanders and others pressed staff for the underlying studies and for earlier notice: Sanders asked when studies were done and why council members had not previously reviewed hard copies. City Manager Boyer and other staff said the project has been included in the city capital plan for "a couple of years," and Boyer said staff hold periodic briefings with council members and had a short conversation earlier the day of the meeting. Alderman Stacy and others said they wanted clearer briefings to constituents and questioned spending priorities. Alderman Schadl said the lift station "has been on the floor" and discussed for a year or more. Rob (city staff) and Stiekel said the existing line runs under deep fill and that some manholes are more than 30 feet deep, making excavation and replacement difficult and expensive. Stiekel and other staff warned that continued settlement and accumulation of debris in the inverted section could create an emergency where the Lamb Road district would have no bypass option. Staff also said the line carries landfill leachate from Landfills 2 and 3 and that digging to replace the line would require EPA permitting and substantial additional work. "In the long term, this is the best solution not to have to get in the landfill," a staff presenter said. No formal vote on the lift station was taken at the July 14 meeting. Staff said the bid process has been completed and a contract award could be considered at the council meeting scheduled for July 18. Council discussion emphasized both the technical constraints around excavation at the landfill and the political concerns about TIF use and public notice. Next steps: staff said the contract award is slated for the July 18 meeting, and council members who asked for additional documentation said they expect to receive the project studies and permitting paperwork before any final vote.