La Grange 'Sitting On Hands' On Flooding

LA GRANGE, IL — An attorney for La Grange gave an upbeat report last week on progress toward ending litigation with a quarry that the village blames for massive flooding on the south side of town. He spoke before an audience full of residents upset over the latest flooding.

One of those residents was Bryan Grissman, who is also a lawyer. He is not so optimistic that the litigation will go La Grange's way and that a trial will happen by early next year, which is the village attorney's goal.

"They spoke about the litigation like it's a foregone conclusion, as if the village is going to come out on top," Grissman said in an interview. "They're having people send pictures of their flooding, an emotional blood-letting on our part. That doesn't matter. If the law is not on our side, then we're not going to win."

Grissman moved to a house near 50th Street and Spring Avenue three years ago. The last two years, his house has been flooded. Recently, it took in 4 feet of water, he said.

In the early 1990s, the Hanson Aggregates quarry, which is in McCook and to La Grange's east, cut a village drainage pipe that officials said had reduced flooding on the south side. The village does not have a copy of the easement for the drainage pipe.

But the village's attorney, Dan Stanner of Chicago's Tabet, DiVito & Rothstein, said a Cook County judge recently acknowledged that the village acquired certain easements in connection with an ordinance involving the pipe in the 1920s.

Stanner said his firm's goal is to go to trial by the first quarter of next year. The next status hearing in the case is late September.

But Grissman, a Cook County prosecutor, said he feared that timeline is unrealistic.

"I know how a case proceeds through the system. They said discovery is still outstanding. That happens at the beginning of litigation and not the end," Grissman said. "They're in the beginning stages of getting this resolved. Who knows if this will be resolved in our favor?"

He also expressed frustration that much of the Village Board's discussions about the case with Hanson quarry have been behind closed doors. He noted the village changed its law firms for the litigation two months ago, but that officials did not announce that development until after the recent flooding.

"Why are we having these behind-closed-doors meetings? With a village this small and an issue this important, why are there closed meetings?" he said.

Grissman and other residents also have asked why it has taken years to solve flooding problems. In 2015, La Grange voters approved a new sales tax to allow the village to go $14 million into debt to address flooding. But the village has yet to start a project. It is awaiting the outcome of the litigation.

At last week's meeting, Village President Mark Kuchler, an attorney, said that if the village spent some money on a smaller project, it would not have enough to complete the much more expensive drainage pipe through the quarry.

"If we spend $5 million of the $14 million on a Plan B today, now we have $9 million. That $9 million doesn't do the 50th Street storm sewer project. We wouldn't have a Plan A because we spent money on Plan B. I get the frustration. I get that it's taken a long time," Kuchler said.

Grissman, however, said the village needs to take action now. He said the village could find money later for the larger project, noting La Grange is a relatively wealthy town.

He also said the village could use its connections to U.S. Rep. Marie Newman, a Democrat from La Grange, to help get federal money. (Village officials said last week that Newman's house also experienced flooding.)

"The village is sitting on its hands," Grissman said. "We should have done something a long time ago. Mark said it will take money away from the ultimate project. Let's worry about that then."

Kuchler did not return a message for comment.