Oak Park eyes loans, not grants, to help flood victims

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Village board set to take up issue on March 1

Tuesday, February 21st, 2012 10:00 PM

Oak Parkers hoping to get no-strings-attached payments from the village to help flood-proof their basements might instead have to pay that money back, elected officials said last week.

Following a heavy rainstorm and basement flooding last summer, Oak Park Village Hall has been chewing over whether it wants to start giving out multi-thousand-dollar grants to its residents to install flood-protection devices. Such programs are common in nearby communities such as River Forest, which gives grants of up to $5,000.

But village trustees said last week that they're reluctant to give payouts, and would instead support a loan program to help the hundreds affected by basement flooding in July.

"I am really hesitant to spend public dollars to benefit one household," Trustee Glenn Brewer said at a meeting last week. "I think, at best, it needs to be a loan program."

In an informal vote of the village board's finance committee last week, trustees landed 3-1 in favor of allowing for flood-prevention loans, with Trustee Bob Tucker advocating, instead, for grants. The vote is far from final, as the full village board plans to take up the issue on March 1.

Tentatively, Oak Park is planning to slot $225,000 for the program, and would give out loans of up to $2,500. Those would only go for installing two specific repairs — overhead sewers, which elevate the sewer above the level of the basement floor, and backflow valves,

At least 163 residences experienced basement flooding in the 50-year storm last July, according to village estimates, many in the northeast corner of Oak Park, where the ground level is lower.

On top of the possible loan program, village hall is looking at several other remedies. Those include spending $125,000 to create an updated model of Oak Park's sewers, kicking off an effort to encourage residents to disconnect their downspouts, and installing "restrictors" to help control the flow of water in underground pipes.

Oak Park sewers are only built to withstand a 10-year storm, according to Village Engineer Jim Budrick. But the area has seen the most rain since 1987 recently, including a 100-year storm in 2010, along with last year's downpour. But it would be extraordinarily costly to build sewers to absorb such rare rain events, he said, and perhaps impossible because of the sheer space such a larger system might need.

Oak Parker Patricia McMillen sent a letter to village trustees last month, encouraging them to institute a "broad-based" flood program that would offer both loans and grants to residents to flood-proof their basements. She has spent more than $10,000 beefing up her downstairs after experiencing flooding the past few years.

McMillen worries that only offering loans would stop short of fixing the problem.

"I think for some homeowners it's not going to go far enough. I think there are going to be some homeowners who need outright grants," she said. "I hope that's not their final decision."

Reader Comments

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Noah from Oak Park

Posted: Thursday, February 23rd, 2012 1:24 PM

I disconnected the downspouts in my northeast Oak Park home after being flooded badly in the late '90's and haven't been flooded since, including the events of '08, '10, and '11 which effected many other homes on my block. When I undertook the gutter work, I was surprised that the village permit process did not require or even suggest that downspouts be disconnected from sewers. It's a simple, cheap, green, and neighborly solution.

Peter Ryan from Oak Park

Posted: Thursday, February 23rd, 2012 11:26 AM

@Another Victim: No, I guess I didn't get it, nor have I followed FB or blogs. I apologize, I stand corrected.

Another Victim

Posted: Thursday, February 23rd, 2012 11:11 AM

@Peter Ryan: I assume you are being sarcastic in your comments to Christopher Payne, as I read his comment as sarcastic as well. If you took a look around the blogosphere & FB, you would see he is talking about where he LIVES and mocking the situation.

Peter Ryan from Oak Park

Posted: Thursday, February 23rd, 2012 10:56 AM

I think you captured it accurately at "stupid." Nice empathy for fellow members of your community. Remind me to mock any civic type concerns you might have, or keep driving if you're broken down on the side of the road.

Christopher Payne Facebook Verified

Posted: Thursday, February 23rd, 2012 9:17 AM

As stupid as it sounds, I like "Reader's" comment. We should demolish all of the homes from the corner of Augusta and Ridgeland to the corner of North and Austin. Oh, wait, the Village just stuck a bunch of those homes in the FLW historic district and we can't tear them down. What a predicament!

Ridiculous

Posted: Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012 7:35 PM

This is ridiculous. The flooding problem requires a systemic solution. Going at it with a piecemeal loan program will merely serve to exacerbate the flooding damage for those who cannot afford the loans.

Reader

Posted: Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012 5:05 PM

....In the north east where the ground is lower. Thats like in New Orleans where they should have never built housing. Katrina ring a bell? Dont cry for me Argentina.

Pat Murphy

Posted: Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012 3:50 PM

WOW! Did I just read Brewers comment correctly? "I am really hesitant to spend public dollars to benefit one household". With at least 163 residences reporting the sewage in their basements, and over 800 homes in the area where raw sewage backed up into basements, it is certainly not one household. This does not look good for the village board, especially Brewer.

Jeff Danielski from Oak Park

Posted: Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012 9:20 AM

By way of analogy: If the Village were suddenly unable to provide water, police, or park district services to residents in a particular geography, could they get away with providing loans for us to buy water coolers, private security, and classes at the Y, all while continuing to collect our taxes for the provision of those same services?

Peter Ryan from Oak Park

Posted: Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012 9:07 AM

I couldn't agree more. How do we get the trustees to actually listen? It seems some of us have expressed ourselves directly to the Village but they are choosing not to hear. Ridiculous that RF supports their residents, OP so far refuses to do the same.

Jeff Danielski from Oak Park

Posted: Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012 8:17 AM

This is getting infuriating. It is the responsibility of the village and the MWRD to keep sewage water out of our basements. The reason we don't live in log cabins on unincorporated land is that we want, and are willing to pay for, good public services, among which is sewage disposal. A cost sharing program represents a compromise with the village to help it fulfil this aspect of its commitment to residents, while recognizing that a full re-build of the sewage system is not in the offing.

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