Des Plaines vows to make streets, neighborhood flooding 2010 priorities

In river towns like Des Plaines, if you're trying to reduce flooding problems, you logically put your time and money into taming the river.

While that makes a lot of sense, it has left many residents who don't live anywhere near the Des Plaines River and yet have suffered through years of neighborhood flooding problems feeling frustrated.

The coming year should be different.

In response to a deluge of resident complaints at recent neighborhood meetings, officials have vowed to make lower-profile neighborhood and street flooding a priority in 2010 - even as they say more has been done in the past than is generally appreciated.

They are planning to use $1.4 million for neighborhood flood prevention efforts next year even while cutting 38 positions and facing a general fund deficit of $3.6 million.

It's people like 8th Ward resident Austin Stanton who have been complaining. He says officials just didn't get that neighborhood flooding was causing more harm to homeowners' properties than the river.

"Our ward is as far away from the river as you can be and still be in Des Plaines. And, our flooding has absolutely nothing to do with the river," said Stanton, who has lived in town for 48 years, weathering many floods including the record-setters of 1986 and 1987. "The feeling was the city really didn't understand the extent of the problem."

Stanton said flooding in his neighborhood has worsened over the years. In the fall of 2008, water engulfed his front yard and reached his garage door after 9 inches of rainfall over a couple of days - an unusual occurrence tied to Hurricane Ike.

And water has backed up in his basement four times since last December due to sewage surcharges that occur when there is too much rainfall for them to handle within a short period of time, he said.

"I had never seen anything like it," Stanton said. "Our neighborhood has been just pummeled in the last year, and two of those instances were heavy rains. It's more than just the streets flooding. People's basements are flooding because there's a surcharge in the sanitary system."

Several 8th Ward residents have created The No Flood Zone Web blog highlighting flooding concerns and have been trying to convince city officials that the problem is citywide. Hundreds of residents have hammered that point home during ward meetings.

That caused officials to realize the city needs to pay more attention to neighborhood flooding, though they argue they haven't been ignoring the problem.

"Since 1990, we've had two master plans and spent over $33 million on stormwater-related problems" unrelated to river flooding, said Tim Oakley, Des Plaines director of engineering.

In 2003, the city developed a new Stormwater Management Master Plan prompted by a flood on Oct. 13, 2001, when 4 inches of rain fell within a 4-hour period.

The master plan identified 12 problem flooding areas in subdivisions developed in the 1950s and 1960s where there's insufficient stormwater detention and not enough vacant land to add capacity. Newer subdivisions are engineered to handle a 100-year storm event.

Oakley said since the plan was developed, the city has spent $6.5 million to alleviate street flooding and $2.3 million for rear-yard storm sewer pipes. Storm sewers in three of the 12 problem areas have been re-engineered to be able to handle 4 inches of rainfall within a 4-hour period.

Ellen Mostardini, who has lived in the 4th Ward since 1986, said her neighborhood streets have not flooded since the storm sewers were upgraded. Her subdivision was the first project to be completed under the master plan.

"I'm very satisfied," she said. "I am delighted with the project. I couldn't be happier that it's finally complete."

The remaining nine problem areas are scheduled for storm sewer upgrades by 2017, but officials are trying to reduce the construction timeline by four years. They want to spend $800,000 next year to accelerate those projects.

"I think it will definitely help. I think it needs to be done," said Stanton, whose neighborhood would move up a year on the list.

The proposed 2010 budget also includes $300,000 for street drainage projects and $300,000 to install rear-yard drainage pipes at roughly 15 sites. Each project usually benefits four property owners, working out to an average cost of $5,000 per property. The rear-yard program was originally ending this year due to budget cuts.

The city council has approved several tax/fee increases for 2010 to fund such projects, but the final budget has not been adopted and changes are still possible.

Several aldermen were hesitant about raising taxes in this economy, particularly a doubling of the city's 2 cents per gallon gasoline tax, which is expected to generate an additional $600,000 to fund the rear-yard and street drainage programs.

"I'm concerned that we are going to have one of the highest taxes, if not the highest tax on gasoline in the area," 6th Ward Alderman Mark Walsten said. Sewer backups are a significant problem, but "I wouldn't call it a catastrophe to have water standing in your backyard," he said.

Fourth Ward Alderman Jean Higgason, whose own home is the lowest on her block, said her neighbors badly need rear-yard drainage relief.

"This is just devastating to people. They are losing everything every couple of years," she said.

Yet, Higgason was among four aldermen - Walsten, 2nd Ward Alderman John Robinson and 5th Ward Alderman James Brookman - who voted against the gas tax increase.

The tax was ultimately approved, with Mayor Marty Moylan casting the tiebreaking vote. "This is one of the many arrows in our quiver to help fight flooding," he said.

Moylan said residents have made it abundantly clear they want neighborhood flooding made a priority and want the city to "forget about the police and fire station, (and) put the money back into sewers, curbs, gutters and garbage." He was referring to plans for a new police headquarters and a new fire station that are on hold for now.

Officials are toying with the idea of asking residents to pitch in toward the cost of installing rear-yard drainage pipes if they want to see improvements sooner than would occur otherwise. The rear-yard drainage program has a waiting list of roughly 90 locations - a backlog of about six years at the current funding level.

Such an approach could mirror current city rebate programs that help homeowners with the costs of repairing private sanitary sewer lines that drain into the public system, and with the costs of installing flood control devices to prevent sewer backups, basement seepage and overland flooding. The city's share is 30 percent of the project cost with a cap of $2,000.

Officials are wary that using the same cost-sharing approach for rear-yard drainage may preclude residents who cannot afford to pay but live in neighborhoods that need the most flooding help.

But cost-sharing "may also get the ones that are serious (about addressing the problem) to ante up," 3rd Ward Alderman Matt Bogusz said.

512384Floodwater in the Des Plaines neighborhood near Dover Drive and Pennsylvania Street after Hurricane Ike rains in September 2008.Courtesy/Austin Stanton 512384Looking east from 176 Dover Drive in Des Plaines, floodwater took over the intersection with Pennsylvania Street after Hurricane Ike rains in September 2008.Courtesy/Austin Stanton 512384Water deluged the intersection of Dover Drive and Pennsylvania Street in Des Plaines on Sept. 13, 2008.Courtesy/Austin Stanton 512384Flooding at Dover Drive and Pennsylvania Street in Des Plaines on Sept. 13, 2008.Courtesy/Austin Stanton