Pulling Weeds Overdue at Overgrown Wetland

The sign at Woodland Estates Park in must be a joke.

It says "Positively No Swimming." Now go find the water.

officials said neighbors have voiced concerns regarding the wetland’s capacity to hold stormwater because of the thick vegetation that has overrun the property over the years.

The basin was built more than a decade ago, according to park district documents.

But the Braeburn Property Owners Association, which owns the wetland itself, hadn’t done any work on its upkeep until last year. It was after a “leadership” change, wrote park planner Ann Viger, in a memo to the Crystal Lake Park District Board of Commissioners.  

“Now that the (association’s) parcel is being addressed, the park district needs to address our property to bring it into proper condition,” Viger wrote.

Park commissioners voted unanimously to pay $19,956 to Woodstock-based LandKeepers Inc. — the same company Braeburn uses — to clear away invasive species of plants on park district-owned property. The park district owns the path that runs along the shoreline.

The money for the project will come from funds originally budgeted for remodeling the lobby of the park district’s administration building.