New Homes Would Worsen Western Springs Flooding: Neighbors

WESTERN SPRINGS, IL – Neighbors continued their fight Monday against a proposed townhome development in Western Springs, saying it would worsen flooding.

The 29-unit complex would be next to the Ridgewood neighborhood in southwest Western Springs. The village's Ridgewood and Springdale subdivisions are the hardest hit by flooding.

During public comments at Monday's Village Board meeting, resident George Rodgers said the village increased the flooding problem when it approved the Heritage Springs townhome complex more than two decades ago. That development is north of the proposed one, which would replace an office building.

At the time, Rodgers said, the village "lied" to the neighborhood that Heritage Springs would not add to flooding. He said it did.

"You talk about economics. I'm talking about my quality of life. My basement floods," Rodgers said.

Rodgers said he did not oppose new development, but was against packing "10 pounds of dirt into a 3-pound sack."

Berry Allen, a neighbor who served as a village trustee from 2015 to 2019, said the Ridgewood neighborhood has suffered for years from flooding. Many have spent thousands of dollars on measures to keep water away from their houses, he said.

Two decades ago, Allen said, Western Springs surveyed residents village-wide as part of its long-term growth plan.

"The No. 1 concern was to keep the village's charm," Allen said.

No one in the survey, he said, indicated a desire for more density. But he said that was what the proposed development would bring.

Meanwhile, the village has not fixed the flooding issues in Ridgewood, he said. The board, he said, had the power to call for a smaller development, which would help.

He noted the board is asking voters to raise property taxes to cover $45 million in debt for infrastructure. And he said it also imposed a stormwater fee two years ago, which the village said would cost the average household $210 a year.

Referring to the stormwater fee, Allen said, "We're already paying for this, and some of these issues aren't getting addressed."

The village has said the priorities for the stormwater fee were the Ridgewood and Springdale neighborhoods.

In a meeting two weeks ago, the village engineer, Jefferey Koza, said a "vast amount of stormwater" heads to the site of the proposed townhomes.

He said the proposed complex's detention basins would not solve the drainage problem in the Ridgewood subdivision.

"The (new) development, from a stormwater perspective, should be a net positive," Koza said. "The engineering has been thoroughly vetted, and we feel like the design is responsible and at least does make incremental improvement by providing some extra detention capacity."

The Village Board could decide on the new development at its Feb. 10 meeting.