Schaumburg debates stewardship of sewer

The question of whether a storm sewer project should be a public or private has been raging in Schaumburg since last Aug. 23's damaging storm.

Though village officials are working on a solution to the flooding problem in a southeast neighborhood, the process is far from OK with its residents.

That's because these homeowners on Niagara Avenue believe the village is avoiding its full financial responsibility for the improvement of a drainage ditch that severely overflows in heavy rains like last summer's.

Officials have suggested that if the homeowners pay for the equivalent of a buried 15-inch sewer pipe to replace the open ditch, the village could pitch in the additional money to make the pipe 36 inches wide instead.

The total cost of the project between Summit and Sunset drives is estimated at $170,000.

But the homeowners argue that the village's full responsibility for this improvement along their street is as clear as the plat-of-survey map that shows their property lines.

Dave Judycki, a building contractor who lives on Niagara, said the village would have the same responsibility for the storm water that flows east down the street whether the houses were there or not.

"I can assure you we are not going away," Judycki told the village's public works committee Thursday. "This is your problem and it needs to be solved."

Trustee Marge Connelly, who chairs the committee, told residents she didn't yet know who technically owns the drainage ditch.

She acknowledged, however, that the answer shouldn't be hard to find.

Public works staff last month identified a possible two-phased solution to the flooding potential in the neighborhood, with the replacement of the drainage ditch with a buried sewer pipe being phase two.

Phase one would be the lowering of portions of nearby Sunset Park, so that its play fields would temporarily hold storm water.

Village officials have met informally with the Schaumburg Park District about doing such a project. At this point, the park district has expressed a preference to not lower the tennis courts, but is open to the possibility of lowering a western area of the 1.6-acre park.

Sunset Park lies east of the affected homeowners, past the eastward flow of storm water on Niagara Avenue.