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Arlington Hts. flood study results still months away

More than four years after a major rain that flooded more than 200 Arlington Heights homes, village officials said it will still be a few more months before two long-awaited studies on flooding are presented to the village board and the public.

The results of two separate studies on the village's sewer systems are likely to yield expensive suggestions for fixes that the village has no way to pay for, officials warned on Monday.

The studies have been several years in the making.

In November 2012, the village board approved a $60,000 contract with Christopher B. Burke Engineering Ltd. to look at seven sewer areas with specific problems. In May 2013, the village board approved a contract with CDM Smith not to exceed $285,781 to look at the larger Arlington Heights combined sewer system, and officials said the study would take six months.

Now, officials say the results of both will likely be presented during public meetings in January 2016.

"The work is still being finalized," said Village Manager Randy Recklaus. "This is very complex work that involves analysis of a patchwork of small and unique localized flooding issues that in some cases intersect and in some cases may not, as well as the identification of a number of stormwater improvements."

Recklaus said one of the problems is that almost all of the "low-hanging fruit" in terms of stormwater system improvements have already been done.

On July 23, 2011, much of Arlington Heights got 7½ inches of rain in five hours. It was a record-breaking event that exposed problems in the Arlington Heights system.

Public Works Director Scott Shirley said the village has done a number of stormwater improvements over the past several decades.

"We have not been asleep at the wheel. The majority of the town has had some type of improvement at some time," Shirley said.

At meetings in January, Shirley said the public can expect to see more information about the problems and potential fixes for their neighborhoods and how much they might cost.

The problem though, is that there is not enough money in the Arlington Heights budget to afford what officials have said will be very expensive fixes.

"There is no current revenue source for stormwater improvements that may be in the several hundred-thousand dollar range or above," Shirley said.

During the election season Trustees Mike Sidor and Carol Blackwood said that a tax increase may have to be part of the equation to deal with the village's aging infrastructure.

"It's going to have to be a shared cost," Blackwood said at the time. "It's all going to take an inordinate amount of money ... It's going to be horrendous."

On Monday, Village President Tom Hayes asked staff to get the studies done even if there is not funding available.

"This is an important process and an important project. I want to make sure we stay on course here," Hayes said. "I want to make sure we get some results so we can report to the community like we've been promising so let's stay on track."

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