Bensenville Plaza could lose several parking spaces atop a drainage ditch unless the plaza’s owner agrees to pay for repairs to the collapsed ditch cover, the Village Board said this week.
The ditch, which is open along Parkside Lane, crosses under the plaza’s parking lot before draining into a culvert beneath Irving Park Road, Public Works Director Paul Quinn said. A section of the parking lot at the west end of the ditch collapsed in May because a support rusted through, he said.
If the collapsed section is not cleared, debris could continue to fall into the ditch until it backs up and floods properties along Parkside Lane, Quinn said.
Officials have been battling for months with Bensenville Plaza owner Joanne Almiro of Deerfield, who has refused to pay for repairs to the ditch cover.
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Almiro says the ditch is a public utility, even though it runs on her property, because it provides drainage for a residential neighborhood. She said she thinks the village should maintain it. She could not be reached for comment.
The village could not determine when or how the owners of the plaza site received permission to build a parking lot over the drainage ditch. “It was certainly long before any of us came here,” Community Development Director Robert Glees said.
Officials said they hope eventually to reroute that section of the ditch onto public property. Glees said that project could cost more than $100,000.
“This is a private facility that impacts the public welfare. It should be diverted onto public land so that we have control over it,” Village President John Geils said.