Buffalo Grove approves flooding prevention plan

The Buffalo Grove village board on Monday unanimously approved about $344,000 for engineering services aimed at flood prevention.

The funds will pay for Christopher B. Burke Engineering to design stormwater improvement and request permits for them. The improvements will cost about $2.5 million, village officials said.

"No one here wants to spend that kind of money, but I think it's critical that we do so," said Trustee Jeffrey Braiman.

The improvements are in response to the massive storm that hit the area about 18 months ago.

The older portion of the village was hit the hardest, said Christopher B. Burke, head of the engineering firm.

He said that area is south of Lake-Cook Road, east of Arlington Heights Road, west of Buffalo Grove Road and north of Dundee Road. That section was built prior to the 1970s, before many of the village's current building ordinances were in place, said Gregory P. Boysen, Buffalo Grove's director of public works.

Last year, Burke's engineering firm interviewed residents and studied the area in order to give the board a report called the Flood Risk Reduction Assessment.

Burke said the village needs to implement a number of projects that will add water storage, pipes and overland flow routes.