Des Plaines pays $1.5 million to office complex after flood
Des Plaines is settling with the owners of the O'Hare Lake office complex for $1.5 million after Lake Peterson overflowed its banks during a July 2011 flood and damaged four buildings.
City Manager Mike Bartholomew said the money is coming from the city's insurance carriers, not city coffers, though it might mean that the city's insurance rates could later go up.
A 1990 agreement between the city and owners of O'Hare Lake, 2300 E. Devon Ave., stipulated that the city could construct stormwater pipes into and out of Lake Peterson, which sits in the middle of the office complex, but also had to pay for any flood damages, should they occur.
A Cook County jury's verdict in April 2014 was for $1.8 million in damages, later reduced to $1.6 million by a judge.
The city appealed that judgment, while the building owners appealed a separate jury ruling in hopes of proving that the city's pumps didn't meet specifications set in the 1990 agreement. An appellate court was expected to rule on both matters soon, but both sides agreed to avoid further litigation by settling out of court.
The city council unanimously approved the agreement this week.
As part of the settlement, the city also paid $400,000 to install three new propeller pumps at Lake Peterson. The city must monitor each pump, the lake water level, and repair any defects to a 42-inch discharge pipe that conveys water from the lake east under the Tri-State Tollway into the Des Plaines River, according to a separate approved by aldermen Sept. 21.
A 78-inch pipe brings stormwater from the neighborhood west of the office complex into Lake Peterson.
The building owners will pay the city $10,000 every year for the city's maintenance and operation of the stormwater infrastructure.