Stormwater Commission

Stormwater Commission Meeting Summary Tuesday, July 2nd, 2019 at 8:00 am Members Present: Fred Kudert, Steven Vinezeano, Thomas Powers, Andrew Vitale, Joseph LoVerde, Rich Wlodarski, Robert Callero, Fred Braun, and Chuck Ostman. Residents in attendance: Mr. and Mrs. Janet Gonzales, Annette Kennedy, Rosemary Palicki, Leonard Palicki, and Karen Diamond Others in attendance: Jeff Wickenkamp, Hey and Associates The Stormwater Commission meeting convened at 8:00 a.m. in the Council Chambers at Village Hall. Old Business: The following topics were presented and discussed. The Meeting Summary for the January 24, 2019 meeting was approved. 8200 Block of Merrill The Village responded to a drainage investigation request from the residents of the block. The engineering department investigated the feasibility of installing a gravity drain to an adjacent private sewer. While the drain was feasible elevation wise, the neighbor declined to allow the connection. Hey and Associates is also working on a residential scale stormwater pump design. Staff also investigated the feasibility of a connection to the combined sewer. The MWRD indicated that a drainage system serving a single lot would be allowed and in fact no permit would be required because they do not regulate single family homes. The Village Engineer had concerns about allowing widespread yard drainage connections to the combined sewer as these types of sewers already have capacity issues. The Village should require some sort of volume control if we begin to allow direct connection to the combined sewer. The residents from 8200 Merrill had some questions about the possible solution. Ms. Palicki asked about creating a swale to Monroe. The Village Engineer indicated it could be studied from an elevation standpoint but there may be significant impacts in terms of fence removal, sheds, garages etcetera. Ms. Palicki expressed concern about her neighbors having built up as being part of the problem and she is not allowed to buildup. She indicated that she has flooded two or three items since the last meeting where this was discussed. She asked where the low point is, Jeff from Hey indicated he couldn’t remember exactly where the survey indicated the low point was, but that it surrounded both the properties on Merrill. Ms. Palicki understood that drainage to the combined sewer could be a problem. She inquired about the feasibility of getting the water out to the front of her house to the gutter in the street. The Village engineer indicated that based on the residents past testimony of the street being higher than the rear, that gravity drain would not work with surface discharge. Ms. Palicki asked about precedence for the Village helping with drainage, including a neighbor at 8286 Merrill who had assistance from the Village. Another property was 8131 Prospect which received pump assistance. The Village Engineer confirmed that historically the Village provided backyard drainage assistance, but that with the roll out of 2012 stormwater relief program the Village began directing their efforts towards large scale stormwater projects to relieve structural and roadway flooding. The residents on Merrill expressed concern that the flooding they are experiencing is getting closer and closer to their homes. Ms. Diamond explained that she has burned out four pumps already. She likes the sound of a gravity drain but also has concerns about exacerbating basement flooding. The Village Engineer indicated that we could look at the sewer model to try and get a quantitative answer. Qualitatively we know that the combined sewers are under capacity almost everywhere throughout the Village. So while there may not be major impacts on Merrill the impacts could present themselves further downstream. Ms. Palicki indicated that they do not want to cause anyone else a problem but feel their neighbors are causing them problem. Ms. Palicki inquired as to the code requirements with regard to downspouts as multiple neighbors direct them toward her. Community Development indicated that it is acceptable to discharge to rear yard, the guideline they follow is to discharge to front or rear. Ultimately the grade is what the grade is, so a discharge to the rear will eventually drain to low point. Community Development did indicate if a property was discharging to the side yard and causing a nuisance they would ask the property to discharge to the front or rear. Ms. Palicki expressed frustration that all the water drains to her property. Chair LoVerde indicated that the Village continues to work towards a solution. The situation on Merrill is difficult but not unique. Chair LoVerde indicates that the engineering is ongoing and the evaluation of a few options is still being studied. The Village Manager indicated that in the past the Village has been equitable in providing solutions to residents. He recommended that if the Village were to assist it needs to be a program that is fair and presents a triage approach to address the worst properties first. Commissioner Callero cautioned that our primary goal still needs to be to keep water out of the basement, and we have to be sure that getting water out of the yard does not affect the basements. Mr. Palicki of 8246 Palicki indicated that he has a 1/3 Hp 3200 Gallon per hour pump rated at 5 feet of head. When he has a yard drainage problem it runs continuously for 6 hours which equates to 18,000 gallons (2400 CF). He asked about whether there is a storm sewer on Elmore, the Village Engineer indicated there is a storm sewer about three lots away to the north which drains to the Mary Hill Basin. Chair LoVerde asked if the sewer could be extended to south, the Village Engineer responded that at face value it did appear the sewer could be extended but a combined sewer connection is a cheaper solution. Mr. Palicki’s opinion was that a rear yard swale to Monroe is the best solution. 8607 National The item was tabled as the resident from 8607 National did not attend. Later in the meeting, the Village Engineer explained the resident’s concerns. The commission decided to table the item until the resident was able to attend. 7300 Block of Nora Ms. Gonzales has lived at her property for 10 years and the street in front of her house floods. The flooding goes over the curb and into her front yard. According to her neighbors this situation has existed for 30 plus years. There has been evidence of home flooding in the past with residents throwing out their belongings after large rainstorms. She feels the recent Water Commission watermain project has made her flooding worse. Mr. Gonzales indicated that recently his neighbor’s car flooded and shorted out the electrical system. He indicated in the last storm he tried to clear the catch basin but the basin was not taking any water. After about 45 minutes or an hour the water started to whirlpool and move; then the water went down quickly. He indicated that he thought there was a valve or gate that was not working. The Commission indicated there is no valve or gate but the sewer does not operate due to hydraulics. Hey studied the 7300 Nora project area in the stormwater master plan. The area is a historical overland flow path from Chicago into Niles. The Nora sewer does not have capacity to convey the overland flow rate. Two potential projects were studied for the area including a 6 acre-ft detention basin and a new conveyance sewer and outfall to the river. The relief sewer was a 3rd quartile project, and the basin was a 4th quartile project. While the projects are good projects, they are not the highest rated stormwater projects. Annette Kennedy from the 7300 block of Nora lived on the block for 60 years. She indicated that flooding has occurred for her entire life time. She used to play in the flooded street when she was child. She observed that flooding started in the center of the block and as development increased in the area the flooding has gotten worse. She has a flood control system that has worked well except for one year recently when it failed resulting in thousands of dollars of cleaning and repairs costs. Two years ago when the system failed she flooded three times. She responded by putting in a bigger pump and replaced everything. Her flood control system was installed before the flood control assistance program without any assistance from the Village. Ms. Kennedy has had multiple cars damaged during storms. She spoke with Mayor Blase about the problem in the past. She felt that she received assurances in the past that the problem would be resolved and is disappointed by the lack of action over many years. She brought pictures and letters from the neighbors as well. Chair LoVerde asked about how the flooding has progressed over time. Ms. Kennedy responded that one year she walked the flood area and saw similar flooding on both Nora and Neva. A neighbor on Neva had flood water into her kitchen at the end of Neva it was so bad. The flooding gets all the way to the neighbors front steps. He indicated that the good news was that solution was identified. Now the problem is finding enough funding to make all the improvements necessary and to address the worst problems first. In order to implement all the projects identified in the masterplan would cost over 80 million dollars. The commission apologized for the poor Village communications in the past. Mr. Gonzales asked what the priority currently is. Hey responded that there are currently 30 projects in the stormwater masterplan. The 2018 stormwater management plan is available on the stormwater commission webpage within the Village of Niles webpage. MWRD IICP Program Village staff presented the IICP program to the commission in the past. Staff now presented the final draft to the commission. An executive summary memo was prepared for the commission and the plan was also reviewed by the Public Works Committee (PWC). The Plan makes a commitment to our existing program of sewer televising, lining, and spot repairs. The biggest change is the need for the private program. If there are three sanitary sewer flooding events in one sub-basin/sewer shed such as sanitary sewer overflow to street or basement then the private sector program would be implemented. The flood events would need to be due to capacity issues. Sewer blockage’s or pipe failure related flooding would not trigger the program. The private sector program would consist of inspecting private property and looking for cross connection violations such as sump pump, downspout, or other illegal stormwater connection to the sanitary sewer. Currently the sanitary sewer system in town does not have extensive capacity related issues. One question that came up from the PWC was whether the title transfer inspection would catch cross-connection violations. The Village Engineer discussed this with the Director of Community Development and determined that the title inspections would not catch cross – connection violations inside the house. The plan was opened up for the discussion, barring any major comments the final plan would be submitted to the MWRD in July. No major comments were made by the commission. Chair LoVerde asked about whether the title transfer could identify whether downspouts were illegally connected. The Director of Community Development indicated this is inspected with the title transfer. New Business: The following topics were presented and discussed Niles Stormwater Ordinance update The MWRD has updated their Watershed Management Ordinance (WMO). The major change to the WMO is a watershed based release rate and increased rainfall depths. As a result of the revision the Niles Stormwater Ordinance should also be updated to be consistent with the MWRD WMO. The Village Engineer presented a list of potential ordinance updates to consider. Hey indicated that the Niles stormwater language was drafted in 2011 prior to the 2012 WMO, this revision will make the coordination of the two ordinances more seamless. The list of items to be considered includes:  General review of stormwater ordinance for cleaning up ordinance language and ensuring consistency with the updated MWRD regulations. The objectives are to eliminate any conflicting language and to strive for a seamless handoff between the requirements of the two sets of regulations.  Address regulation of backyard localized poor drainage areas (LDPAs)  Address direct connection to storm sewer for nuisance flooding and/or backyard drainage.  Consideration of a green infrastructure/ volume control requirement for direct connections allowed per previous item  Consider the redevelopment requirements and possibly include detention requirement for major commercial remodels that otherwise would not otherwise trigger the ordinance  Update the Niles Stormwater Detention Spreadsheet Calculator to incorporate revised rainfall data The commission agreed to study these items. The Chair asked about how Niles is more restrictive. Hey indicated that smaller project trigger detention in Niles. The Niles Ordinance requires detention for projects that result in 15,000 SF of redevelopment, where the MWRD trigger is 21,780 SF. The Niles standard applies to projects varying from 15,000 SF -21,780 SF projects. Next Meeting Date The date of the next meeting will be at the call of the chair. The meeting was adjourned at 9:35am