Village of Downers Grove to Buy, Demolish Homes Affected by Flooding

The village of Downers Grove will buy and demolish several homes this year that have been severely affected or damaged by recurrent flooding.

The Downers Grove Village Council voted unanimously July 16 to purchase the property at 4405 Lee Ave. for $280,000 and another at 4409 Lee Ave. for $300,000.

The agreements were part of the consent agenda during an otherwise light council meeting. Only Mayor Martin Tully and commissioners Greg Hosé, Geoff Neustadt and Becky Rheintgen were in attendance.

The homes on Lee Street are the latest flood-damaged properties to be purchased by the village. Earlier this month, the village council voted unanimously to buy the home at 4407 Lee St. for $226,000 and the home at 3944 Sterling Road for $262,000.

All homes will be paid for through the village's Stormwater Fund, which includes $3 million for capital projects in fiscal year 2013.

The acquisitions are consistent with the village's past practice to acquire homes that experience recurrent flooding if it is more cost effective to buy and demolish those properties than to construct additional flood prevention measures to protect them.

Village officials said the homes on Lee Avenue and Sterling Road are located within localized poor drainage areas. The homes on Lee Avenue are served by a private septic system, which is not functional during large rain events, and the Sterling Road property is adjacent to a combined storm water and wetland bank facility.

Because of these factors, the homes flood on a regular basis, and sustained substantial damage during the April 18 storm event, according to village documents.

The village of Downers Grove took similar action in 2011, when it purchased and demolished five homes near 2nd Street and Cumnor Road. The area was ultimately turned into a large detention basin—a project that was recognized with the 2012 Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award by the Illinois Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).