A committee is setting its sights on avoiding future flooding.
The committee, which will meet every Wednesday for the next eight weeks, includes trustee Ellis Van Meter, village administrator John DuRocher, village engineer Peter Wallers, Federal Emergency Management Agency official Dean Ogan and six village residents and business owners.
It is charged with coming up with a plan to alleviate flooding in the Parkview Estates subdivision–which on July 17 and 18 flooded for the third time in 24 years–as well as the Blackberry Heights subdivision and the commercial area near Illinois Highway 31 and the U.S. Highway 30 bypass.
Included in the committee are Mike Schaefer, whose family owns Schaefer Greenhouse Inc.; east side landlord Robert Couch; west side resident Roger Brown; and east side residents Howard Casebold, Carol Doemland and Rose Corral.
Once the committee makes a report, it will be submitted to FEMA, which can approve the issuance of federal funds for any flood-remediation work.
Whatever solutions the committee devises, however, could be limited by village funding. FEMA or Army Corps of Engineers funding would pay for 75 percent of any flood-control work, with the village funding the other 25 percent, DuRocher said.
Among the ideas to be explored are various ways of increasing flood detention capacity at Parkview Estates, buying property that flooded, dredging Waubonsie Creek, expanding levees, changing the flow of rainwater and forming regional flood-control facilities.
