The Power of Collaboration

Les Bellah, former Mayor of Kirkland, Illinois, knows how destructive water can be. In July 1996, according to Bellah, a storm dumped 18 inches of rain on his town in less than 12 hours. The Kishwaukee River overflowed its banks and flooded the Congress Lake Estates Trailer Park. Water came up to the windows of many trailers and left a 2-foot-high watermark on the Kirkland Village Office.

The 1996 storm ultimately destroyed the Congress Lake Estates Trailer Park and left masses of debris.

After the waters receded and debris was hauled away, the community faced a serious question: What should be done with the devastated Congress Lake Estates Trailer Park? Local leadership prudently chose to use the path of mitigation.

Within months of the flood event, Kirkland leaders collaborated with FEMA and the State of Illinois on a hazard mitigation acquisition project to buy out the mobile homes at the trailer park.

When the trailers were purchased at pre-flood market value, Kirkland residents decided to create a natural park where the trailer park once stood; thereby beautifying the area and minimizing the damage from any future floods.

The former site of the Congress Lake Estates Trailer Park has now been transformed into Pioneer Park, a large greenspace beside the scenic Kishwaukee River.

“We are very proud of our park,” said Bellah. “With this last flood of August 2007, we proved one more time that we made the right decision. The area flooded again, and it would have affected homes if they were still here. So the project really paid off.”

According to Bellah, Kirkland residents were ecstatic about the results of this project. “We are sad for all the people who lost their homes during the flood of 1996,” he said. “But through foresight and some good decisions, we were able to turn the whole experience into a positive thing.”