Stormwater Commission

STORMWATER COMMISSION MEETING SUMMARY April 17, 2009 The following persons were present: Richard Wlodarski, Scott Jochim, Mousa Nazzal, Andrew Vitale, Acting Mayor Callero, and Project Manager Steven Vinezeano. Chuck Ostman was on vacation. I) Opening Discussion: Stormwater Commission Project Manager Steven Vinezeano opened the meeting with an overview of the meeting agenda (no printed agenda beyond what was sent to members via Outlook Calendar. The three items listed were 1). Review the list of recommendations not addressed at the last meeting on April 3rd; 2). Discussion of a potential Stormwater Workshop to be planned for May 20th; and 3). Review feedback and updates on any new or ongoing stormwater issues. II) Stormwater Recommendations: Commission comments in italic. Homeowner 1. Encourage residents to flood-proof their homes. This is considered one of the most important recommendations mentioned. Residents must protect themselves and their property from any possible flooding, to include future “100-year” storms similar to that in September 2008. 2. Encourage residents to add battery backup to sump pump systems. It is well known that if more homes lost power during the September storm than did, there would have been more flood damage due to inoperable sump pumps due to no battery backup. Review with ComEd indicates 18 homes on the west side of Niles (approximately with borders of Golf to north, Oakton to south, Western to west, and Greenwood to east) belonging to feeder C7226 experienced a long duration outage during the September storm due to “transformers being submerged under water.” 3. Educate homeowners about areas designed to flood in heavy rain. Many residents do not seem to understand that in areas of combined sewers, it is to their benefit that the stormwater stored in their street is not in the combined storm sewer system because this would most likely cause basement flooding. 4. Educate homeowners to stop stormwater infiltration from sumps, downspouts, and other sources. The City of Chicago has a very useful educational piece titled “Managing Stormwater at Home.” This document address: downspout disconnection, rain barrel use, pervious paving, special landscaping, and general stormwater information such as street pooling. Village Policy  1. Require Overhead Sewers for all new buildings and major additions. This is an existing policy. 2. Stormwater Management for Developments. Language has been developed in past and should be reviewed for updating. This requires the Village to pass new ordinance language. 3. Lot Grading Verification. This requires the Village to pass new ordinance language. 4. Drainage Permit required when impervious surface expanded. This requires the Village to pass new ordinance language. 5. Remove Sump Pump/Downspout/Footing Drains from sanitary sewers. Storm sewers as well. Enforcement policy to be discussed. 6. Residential stormwater discharge shall occur 10’ from building and allowed to be absorbed by yard and not negatively impact neighbor. This requires the Village to pass new ordinance language. 7. Pervious Requirements – Residential must be reviewed. Total pervious and impervious surface allowed on residential lots should be reviewed. 8. Top of Foundations Requirements must be reviewed. This exists and must be reviewed. 9. Prohibit Depressed (below grade) Garages. Local ordinance required. 10. Rear Yard Catch Basins installed in storm lines. Backwater valve/flappers discussed by the Commission. 11. Amend Fence regulations to prevent obstruction of natural flow. The Commission agreed that this would be near impossible to regulate after fence is constructed. This should become part of resident education. 12. Require sewer restrictors in older commercial developments. Commission agreed that this would not be possible. 13. Require new structures/major remodeling to replace existing clay sanitary sewers with plastic to eliminate infiltration. The Commission discussed that regulations should be written to require new and updated sewer service when new water service is built. 14. Consider ending curbside leaf collection and require leafs be bagged to reduce leaves from blocking storm sewers (the number one reason for blockages?). This will become part of the education process. “help your self” Village Operations 1. Ongoing GIS Mapping and monitoring of flooding to further identify problems, track success of improvements, and anticipate potential flooding. This would be done through tracking calls, ground experience, and a resident survey. 2. Establish emergency stormwater operations. This is in place by Public Services to sweep through entire village before a storm. Once #1 is in the works, a more targeted operation may be developed. 3. Work with MWRD to ensure area tributaries remain clear and free of debris. Done.  4. Implement an emergency leaf collection/street cleaning/sewer cleaning prior to rain events in flood prone areas. See #2. 5. Identify streets likely to flood and ensure road blocks are in place when necessary. See #2. 6. Implement inspection program in order to identify homes that discharge stormwater into sanitary sewer. And storm sewer. Policy must be written. 7. Implement a more aggressive maintenance program of sewers and catch basin/inlet/restrictor cleaning. Vactors must be kept in top condition. 8. Develop a Stormwater Page on the Village website. Yes. 9. Potential stormwater fee to help maintain system. Cost Share or Grant Programs These programs would require a revenue source. 1. Overhead Sewer/Backwater Valve. 2. Backyard Drainage. 3. Sewer Roding Reimbursement Program. 4. Disconnection of sumps, downspouts, and footing drains from sanitary sewer. 5. Sewer lateral replacement Program. 6. Green Infrastructure (Rain Garden/Rain Barrel) Solutions Program. Capital Programs 1. Slip-lining sanitary sewer program to reduce infiltration. The Commission agreed that “infiltration” is a serious issue and slip-lining helps prevent this. 2. Reestablish proper overland stormwater flow with grading and reinstallation of ditches and swales. This may be done on ROW. 3. Property purchase to provide stormwater storage or improve overland flow. A revenue source must be identified (FEMA possible). 4. Future street improvement projects should include cleaning and video on existing storm sewers throughout the improvement limit of the street. Storm sewers and manholes found in need of repair should be repaired as part of the overall street project. This is done. 5. Future street improvement projects which involve reconstruction and major rehabilitation of streets should include the design and installation of new storm sewers with the capacity for 10-yer design frequency. This was seen as unrealistic. 6. Replace sanitary sewer manhole lids within the flood-prone areas with self- sealing lids to reduce stormwater infiltration. This is done. 7. Plan the incorporation of green infrastructure concepts as per IEPA regulations for the MS4 Storm Water General NPDES Permit ILR40 and to be eligible for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Stimulus Bill) funding requiring 20% of funds be set aside for “green infrastructure”. Okay. 8. Consider a stormwater consultant to conduct further study of those areas of concern identified by the Stormwater Commission. Yes. The Commission believes that the entire Village should be reviewed by an engineering firm.  9. Complete mapping of all sewer infrastructure assets (including mains, catch basins, inlets, etc.) and relevant descriptive information (age, material, size, elevations, etc.). Future use could include complete hydraulic analysis of sewer capacities and areas prone to surcharge in given storm events. Yes. 10. A comprehensive Stormwater Management Plan/Ordinance was discussed. III) Stormwater Workshop: Mr. Vinezeano discussed holding a stormwater workshop on May 20th from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Senior Center. The Commission will operate the workshop similar to other workshops held for the Milwaukee Avenue project. This workshop will be in lieu of a “one-way” public meeting or hearing. The benefit of this workshop is: 1) this gives residents an opportunity (especially those who have yet to respond to a survey or call) to share their flood information with staff through marking up a large map or smaller 11x17 maps; 2) the mapped information will be better refined to reflect “chronic” flooding vs. the epic flooding in September 2008; 3) residents will have an opportunity to see the work of the Commission and ask questions; and 4) there will be booths setup by various agencies to begin the education process for residents. There was much discussion and by the end of the meeting, the Commission decided that a workshop is the way to go as a final step before the final report to the Board of Trustees and Mayor. III) Ongoing Issues: ƒ Park Ridge has agreed to cut a swale back in the west side of their park off Western Avenue. ƒ Our Lady of Ransom is in discussions about engineering a green infrastructure solution on their property. ƒ The cemetery is requesting permission to open the stormwater pipe on their property to relieve some of the stormwater pressure before they move forward with other mitigation efforts.