PORTAGE | The Portage Park Board on Monday gave the go-ahead to a plan for drainage improvements along the Prairie Duneland Trail.

Developer Nathan Twilla had requested permission to do the work where his Hidden Waters subdivision runs along the trail. The subdivision is south of the trail on the west side of Airport Road.

Public Works Director Craig Hendrix recommended the changes to allow the city to better maintain drainage in the subdivision.

Matt Keiser, project manager with Duneland Group, told the park board that the developer sought to regrade a ditch between the trail and subdivision. The ditch drains half of its water to the west and half to the east, which runs into a pipe that goes under Airport Road and drains into Robbins Ditch.

Keiser said Hendrix wanted to lower the amount of flow into Robbins Ditch. To do that, the developer would cap the pipe leading east and regrade the ditch along the trail to send water to the west into a wetlands that will collect runoff from the trail and the subdivision.

Because the ditch is on park property, approval was needed from the Park Board for the work to proceed.

Parks Superintendent Carl Fisher said that when the railroad right of ways were purchased for the trails, it was done with the rationale that the corridors also would be used for drainage and utility lines.

Kaiser told the board that all the heavy equipment used for the work would be brought in through the subdivision and would not be on the trail.

The board unanimously passed the motion to approve the work.