Residents of Big Bend Drive in Des Plaines questioned whether a 5,500-foot levee proposed by the Army Corps of Engineers is the most effective way to ease flooding in the area.
Homeowners along Big Bend Drive are surrounded by the Des Plaines River on three sides and have faced serious flooding problems in recent years, they said at a recent special City Council meeting.
A current plan under review by the Corps of Engineers calls for a combined levee and retention wall, ranging in height from 1 to 10 feet, to be constructed along the backyards of 47 homes on Big Bend Drive.
“I’d rather have 11 feet of water in my basement than be surrounded by a 38-foot (wide) berm,” said Beverly Becker, a 17-year resident of Big Bend Drive.
Army Corps of Engineers Lt. Col. Roger Gerber said the $3.7 million levee was the only plan for the area that could be implemented soon, and urged residents and city officials to give the project “thumbs up or thumbs down” by April 1998, at the absolute latest.
Chuck Tilley, president of the Maine Civic Association, said the proposed levee is an inadequate solution and urged his neighbors to form a committee to work with federal officials in the coming weeks.
“Although you’re saving the homes from flooding, you’re also taking away from the aesthetic value of many of these yards,” said state Rep. Rosemary Mulligan.
Mulligan and State Sen. Marty Butler urged residents to find a way to take advantage of federal funding that is currently available. Ultimately, costs for the project would be shared among federal, state and local taxing authorities.