'Complete Panic': La Grange To Study Flood Issue

LA GRANGE, IL – La Grange plans to spend $140,000 to further study proposed improvements to storm sewers north of 47th Street.

The money was included in the village's capital projects plan for 2023-24.

The village has long planned the Maple Avenue Relief Sewer project, or MARS. The new study would further refine the costs of such a project, with the updated plan used to seek grant opportunities, the village said.

The decision to include the $140,000 in the capital projects plan follows months of resident Laura West speaking at Village Board meetings. West, who lives at Sunset and Elm avenues, has highlighted issues of flooding in her neighborhood.

In an email to Patch, West said she was thrilled with the study. But she said she was cautious given the lack of money built into the 10-year budget to carry out a project.

She expressed similar sentiments during the Village Board's meeting Monday. But she pointed to her daughter, a second-grader, saying she would be of college age by the time the village may come around to doing something about the issue.

"She will spend her entire life living (on) Sunset Avenue scared of flooding," West said. "Every time it rains, our family is in a complete panic. And we are not alone in our neighborhood. Our corner is catastrophic."

West said it was frustrating to hear of plans for "green intersections" in La Grange's downtown when residents are still suffering from flooding.

"This is a hundred-year problem that has gotten exponentially worse in the past five years," West said.

Meanwhile, the village is awaiting a ruling from a Cook County judge on the village's litigation with Hanson Aggregates, which owns a quarry in McCook.

A favorable outcome would mean the village could proceed with a multimillion project to reduce flooding south of 47th Street.