Address Flooding Problems, Darien Residents Urge

DARIEN, IL — Darien residents urged the City Council this week to take action on flooding, first by hiring consultants to study the problem.

In many suburbs in late June, overland flooding affected homes. But Darien officials said no local homes were impacted by such flooding.

The officials acknowledged that streets flooded, but that is by design. If the city decided to end street flooding, the projects would cost millions of dollars, officials warned.

Residents, though, said street flooding is not good because it impedes emergency vehicles' access.

During public input, Sue Rakowski, a Carriage Way West subdivision resident, said flooding has increased in her neighborhood in the half century that she has lived there. She suspected much of the water is coming from subdivisions built after hers.

"We have mushy ground for days after a storm where the water is still trying to get to the pumps or to the street (inlets)," she said.

She asked the city to pay consultants to study flooding issues in her neighborhood and others. She suggested culverts as a possible solution.

In response, Dan Gombac, the city's municipal services director, said extensive landscaping in Rakowski's back yard could add to her flooding issues. Such landscaping, he said, would be barred under the city's current ordinances.

Joe Buell, who lives on Regency Grove Drive, said his area saw "quite a bit" of water in the streets after the storms last month.

"Regency Grove Drive is one way in and one way out," he said. "If you want to get police in there, the vehicles would not be able to get in there. If you want the paramedics in there, they wouldn't be able to get in there. They would have to drive on people's lawns."

Buell said residents were not talking about spending a lot of money. Rather, he suggested consultants could help the city find less expensive solutions.

Among his ideas was bigger stormwater pipes in his area.

However, Christopher Burke, an engineer who the city asked to attend the meeting, said bigger pipes may not be the solution.

"To make the pipes bigger, we have to make sure we're not passing the problems downstream," he said. "We don't want people upstream to make all their pipes bigger, so they're draining their area onto downstream communities."

A resident at Ailsworth and Stewart drives said the city needs to study flooding in his area as well. But Gombac said he has not seen the streets in that subdivision hold water for more than 45 minutes after a storm, which the resident disputed.

"The storm sewer works efficiently and optimally in your subdivision," Gombac said. "I know you don't want to hear that."

Mayor Joseph Marchese said he empathized with residents.

"When you have water coming close to your house, it's scary. I deal with that every time we have a heavy rain. I get the ShopVac out," he said. "I have a broken drain tile on one wall. I want to avoid the $6,000 to $7,000 bill to fix that drain tile."