VIDEO: City Will Not Purchase Flooded Homes

At the city’s Committee of the Whole meeting and Common Council meeting, passionate parties on both sides of a contentious issue over whether or not to spend city funds on private properties spelled out their arguments and reasoning.

At issue are three properties in the Fountainwood subdivision, hugging the New Berlin and Hales Corners borders.

The three homes, which are located near the intersection of Saroyan and Longfellow Lane in Alderman Tracy Snead’s First District, have been the victims of constant flooding during peak rain season.

To remedy the situation, the city sought out funds from the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District in a plan that could have cost up to $830,000. That proposed project called for the city to purchase the homes, altogether valued at approximately $695,000. Additional costs such as home demolition, attorneys fees, grading expenses, and other engineering work would have added an additional $135,000 or so.

But the MMSD has declined to fund the project, and that has left the homeowners increasingly worried heading into peak rain season, and it has appeared to have left, for the time being, the Common Council at an impasse of sorts over what can and can’t be done - what should and shouldn’t be done - next.

Snead argued that the city made a commitment to address this issue and, regardless of MMSD’s participation, something needs to be done to remedy the situation.

Every time it rains, “They have to scurry and hurry,” Snead said during the Common Council meeting, speaking about the homeowners.

During public comment time at the Council meeting, all three homeowners spoke, with one stating that he has dealt with six feet of water in his basement twice in a three-year period. Another said just two inches of rain are enough to rise up to her door steps and through the door.

But with the MMSD declining to fund the project, the Mayor, City Engineer, and the other aldermen, all expressed caution at the idea of the city possibly providing funding for the project.

While expressing sympathy for the homeowners, they also expressed worry over what may turn out to be a significant precedent-deciding move.

Seventh District Alderman Noah Fiedler noted during the Council meeting that, while he sympathized, other property owners will surely step forward to seek city funding to remedy their own flooding problems should the city fund a solution for these three homeowners. “I don’t think it’s the right thing for the city to do,” he said.

Alderman Neil Borgman, of District 3, expressed the same concerns. “We gotta be careful that we don’t get bogged down here,” he said, adding, “I don’t know it’s our job to fix.” He went as far as to place blame on all the development that has taken place in recent years just across Janesville Road in New Berlin as the cause.

But Mayor John R. Johnson noted that there’s plenty of blame to go around. While New Berlin could be part of the problem, Muskego lacks adequate water retention on its end in that area.

Earlier in the evening, during the Committee of the Whole meeting, Snead noted the development that has taken place along Janesville Road in New Berlin and Hales Corners, stating that it has shifted the flow of water to the point where “Their lawns are literally turned into ponds every time it rains - complete with ducks and all.”

In the end, with the proposed project having relied on the funding from the MMSD, the Common Council voted to retract the resolution, with Snead casting the only dissenting vote.

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