Oak Parkers who had to slosh through sewage piled up in their basement during a heavy rainstorm July 23 might start hearing some possible solutions from village hall this week.
The Oak Park Village Board of Trustees was scheduled to start discussing solutions to the local flooding problem at its meeting Tuesday night, after Wednesday Journal’s deadline. More than 300 residents reported flooding in their basement following the summer storm, with the highest concentration in northeast Oak Park.
Village staff has put together a preliminary report on the July flooding, which is posted on Wednesday Journal’s website. The report includes possible next steps that Oak Park might take to address future flooding, including inspecting local sewers, completing a “multi-hazard mitigation plan,” and starting a program where village hall would help residents install flood-prevention devices in their homes.
The village board was also expected to OK a $22,000 contract Tuesday night for a consultant to update Oak Park’s flood plan, which was last done in 1994, according to Village Engineer Jim Budrick. He hopes work will wrap up by mid-October.
Village Manager Tom Barwin said updating the flood plan will help Oak Park figure out whether it needs to do things differently in the future to stop local flooding, such as bigger underground pipes or assisting individual homeowners.
“Should we be doing something different with the [sewer] system in the face of these increasingly volatile weather events?” he said. “Do we need to take a new approach as the realities of climate change confront us? And if we do need to do something different, what are our choices?”