Village Gives Residents Option for Ridding Property of Storm Water

Village officials Monday approved placing a special pipe in the street curb as part of the $2.3 million North Downer Avenue road reconstruction program.

Trustee Don Ford cast the lone vote against spending $84,000 to place PVC piping in the curb, and giving residents the option to make a lateral connection to that piping to remove storm water from their property.

The board already has awarded more than $2.3 million in contracts for the , and Trustee Jeff Hanewall said Monday's vote is an opportunity to install the piping while construction is occurring. The work signals the initial steps of the village's comprehensive approach at faulty sewers that caused basement backups after torrential July rains hit the area.

“We’ve got a project right now… where we are going to be doing a little bit of sewer work and it makes sense,” Hanewall said. “The intent is to give people an opportunity to get rid of the water that they collect on their own property."

Installing the piping along the curb would cost about $1,000 per home and would be paid for out of the village’s general levy, but the cost could be moved to a storm water utility fund, when that fund is created, Village Manager Chris Swartz said.

Instead of discharging storm water directly onto the lawn, the project would allow residents to connect an existing sump pump or downspout to the lateral. The storm water would then be piped to either Lake Michigan or the Milwaukee River.

Hanewall said the big concern, however, is whether residents would use the option. Residents would have to pay for trenching and placing piping in their yard to make the connection at the curb, which could cost thousands of dollars, board members estimated. And residents would be responsible for maintaining the pipes that run to the curb.

“It’s at least conceivable that we have a system that doesn’t get used,” Hanewall said.

Hanewall added the plan is to install the piping throughout the village, but the board hasn't decided whether to take that step.

The piping wouldn’t solve all the problems in the area as it won’t stop the sanitary sewers from backing up into basements, but would just focus on overland flooding, Hanewall said.

“We know that ground water, overland flooding has been problematic,” he said. “The rain gardens are certainly a great inexpensive alternative, but the best system is to provide a pipe to get that water away from your property.”

The piping will be only inches deep in the curb, said Leeann Butschlick, director of the Department of Public Works. She added installing the piping is significantly cheaper than making a lateral connection to an existing sewer pipe.

Ford said he is concerned about the system not being used by residents or that they may forget the laterals are there. He also noted that the village is already spending a lot of money to improve its sewers.