Something Stinks in This Sewer Spat

Sherri Lasko thinks something stinks. She knows it, actually, because she claims to get a nasty whiff of sewage caused by an overwhelmed catch basin that's filled with her neighbor's human waste.

Worse, she said, is that village officials from Oak Park don't seem to care. Lasko has begun chronicling the ordeal on a new website, where you can read her whole story. But here's a quick summary:

Lasko bought the home 10 years ago, and back in May she discovered that an underground sewer pipe shared with the neighboring two-story building at 97 N. Harlem Ave. — a property that was once a coach house to Lasko's much larger residence — empties into her home's exterior catch basin. Flushed waste accumulates in the basin, then rises until it meets another pipe, which Lasko said leads to her basement.

Lakso, a graphic designer who works from home, wants the village to step in and force the building's landlord to make a change. But the village says the shared sewer hookup is legal and up to code.

"I have nothing, no village ordinance or state code....that says there are code violations [at 97 N. Harlem or 401 S. Maple Ave]," said Stephen Witt, Oak Park's head of building and property standards. "The village has done what the village can do."

After months of back-and-forth with Oak Park Village Hall, Lasko's still upset. She writes on her blog:

"I of course pleaded that the level of waste would sit, making a toxic pool and a creating a very real threat of hydrogen sulfide or methane poisoning to my family."

Now, she's threatening to cap off the neighbor's sewer pipe with what's called hydroplug, a pasty compound that when smeared into the pipe would essentially seal it off — potentially forcing any build-up back into the neighboring building.

That property is owned by Jack Strand, a longtime local real estate businessman and the director of the Downtown Oak Park business group's board of directors. The building used to be Strand's office but is now rented to a tuxedo rental shop. Strand did not return calls seeking comment for this story.

(Lasko said she's had other problems with Strand and the tuxedo shop in the past, but insists the sewer issue isn't sour grapes with a neighbor.)

Asked whether she thinks plugging the pipe would cause health risk to the tux shop's workers and customers — and if her actions might invite a possible legal mess — Lasko said didn't hesitate to answer.

"If it comes between a lawsuit or my son's life, it's an easy choice," she said.

Update: Lasko said she's had to scrap the threat of plugging up the pipe. She said a plumber found the neighboring property's sewer pipe ties into her home's sink line, which means if she tried to plug the pipe, she's be plugging her own line. "It creates an even more severe problem," she said. 

Oak Park officials have asked the Illinois Department of Public Health to examine the sewer set-up, and Witt said it's now the state's choice to inspect the property and determine whether or not a major a health violation exist at Lasko's home.

"I'm not doubting that she has smelled gas inside the house," Witt said, adding that village officials believe faulty residential plumbing is the culprit. (Lasko insists the home has "mostly" new plumbing.)

With the village's responsibility all but exhausted, Witt said the sewer spat is a neighbor dispute and not the village's business.

"I truly hope that we can come to some amicable resolution," Witt said. "But it doesn’t always work that way."