No Flood Relief For 'Huge' La Grange Section: Resident

LA GRANGE, IL – Residents south of 47th Street in La Grange can be optimistic about flood relief, but that's not the case for much of the north side, a resident said this week.

Laura West, who lives in the 100 block of Sunset Avenue, said a "huge section" of La Grange has no hope of relief, despite flooding problems growing worse.

She identified the northern area in question as between 47th Street, Gilbert Avenue, La Grange Road and the railroad tracks. This consists of about 70 blocks.

Since May, West has spoken to the Village Board at least five times about flooding problems in her neighborhood.

She pointed to the proposed Maple Avenue Relief Sewer project, or MARS, which she said the village put forward in 2005 as a solution for her area.

But the village has delayed the project because the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District won't allow the added flow until 2029.

"This is telling the residents of this area to accept 24 years of catastrophic floods from the time the project was proposed to the time we hope – a big emphasis on hope – it is completed," West told the board.

"The problem is not getting better. Areas that used to not have problems have problems now," West said. "Corners such as mine at Sunset and Elm that have always been problems are catastrophically worse."

She said the village repeatedly says its engineers have indicated the MARS project is the only way to go for the neighborhood.

"If people I'm working with aren't doing their job, then you get different people," West said. "We don't see any solutions from these engineers who are working on our area."

Village trustees did not respond to West's comments.

When she and others spoke in September, Village President Mark Kuchler defended what the village was doing.