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• dated with heavy flooding in 1972. This occurrence increased awareness of the flooding ..problems and hastened the development of addi- tional storm water facilities. Developers in Arlington Heights must. provide on-site detection for any additional storm water run-off. their projects create. They also must .provide the park district with a land ..dedication or cash donation. in lieu of land that is based on the density of their .project. Unfortunately, in the past most developers have dedicated the por- lion of land that included their storm water detention or retention area to the park district. Those retention and detention areas that did not receive design direction from- the park dis- trio were more often than not wasted space and a maintenance problem.. Our park district now has an agreement with the village that states -that we will only take over and maintain storm water detention • facilities that have a recreational use. Forty-eight parks that total over 475 acres. are maintained and programmedfor recreational use by the Arlington. Heights Park District. Eleven have some type of major de- tention or retention area within the site. Various recreational facilities provided for in these flood control areas include: a .golf course, ball dia- monds, tennis- courts, ice skating rink, sledding hills, and nature areas. The Arlington Lakes Golf Course is designed to both'retain and detain storm water. The course-will accom- modate 45.3 acre feet of storm water at capacity. Retention/detention on the -site is accomplished through an extensive system of 16 retention lakes, 13 of which are.. intercon- nected. When the water rises .above the normal lake levels, it moves from lake to lake through dry creek beds that have corrugated metal pipes un- derneath them. As the water rises above' the dry creek beds #hat connect the lakes, it moves over the fairways. The entire purse is intended to flood, with the. exception of the greens and tees, which are elevated .above the flood level. The flooded areas are designed to be clear of water within 72 hours to avoid the loss of turf because of drowning or burning. The intricate balancing_of 4011,000 cubic. yards of excavated material was a major factor in the develop- menu and construction of the golf course. In addition to providing flood control and aesthetic enhancement, Arlington Lakes Golf Course uses,its retention Lakes for irrigation pur- poses. Irrigation of the course. is necessary to keep it .playable in dry summer months. The facility also provides year-round use by offering the course as a cross country ski trail in the winter. Sunset Meadows Park has two large detention basins. The 15-acre. basin contains three ball diamonds, two. of which are lighted. Arlington Heights was one of the first com- munities to experiment with install- ing lighted ball diamonds in a deten- tionbasin. Aground fault is installed at the park to provide safety for the lighting. The addition of this facility provided the district with a much needed place for our softball leagues.. Depending on the amount of rain that we get, the basin takes any- where from 6 to 24 hours to drain. Special .covers were made out of plywood and astroturf to place over the storm sewer inlets located in the outfield area of the ball diamonds, These covers help alleviate injuries during games. There is alsoquite a bit of.erosion that occurs. around. the inlets because of the large amount of storm water ,.draining out of .the basin. The areas that erode have #o be maintained constantlyto keep the fields in safe playing condition. wo of the advantages to using a detention basin for softball are the fact that wind becomes less of a factor in the game and the lighting is directed into the basin and becomes. much less obtrusive to the surround- . ing neighbors. Problems. that :arise from playing softball in a detention basin include the unpredictability of flooding and. the fact that when there is little or no wind, the dust tends to hang in the air;: it may be quite thick by the time three games are played. The second: detention area. at Sunset Meadows Park is an 18-acre basin used for a golf driving range. The- turf. quality and erosion in the bottom of this basin do not impair the use of this facility; since he golfers all stand on a plateauabove the basin and hit into it. The driving range is only about a mile from our golf course and is prograrnrned for golf lessons. This basin: is also used for sledding, Two other detention areas in the central portion of the village provide ice skating, sledding,.: and ,tennis facilities. The Hickory: Meadows. basin is designed to be flooded and used as an .ice rink in the .winter. This basin is lighted for-night skating and has a warming shelter on the site. jusf across the street from the ice rink park is another five-acre. basin that contains four#ennis courts for summer use and a large ighted sled- ding, hill. The tennis courts are ele- voted three .feet above the bottom of the basin and are only under water after several inches of .rain. The ele-, Continued on page 69 PARKS & RECREATION/FEBRUARY 1984 49