Some residents of unincorporated Barrington who have long complained about flooding issues confronted Barrington Township leaders at a recent meeting, hoping to be heard and have their issues addressed.
“The residents on our street are fed up and tired of dealing with this issue,” said Joe Bosnick.
At its March 12, 2024 meeting, members of the Barrington Township board listened as a township resident spoke on behalf of himself and other homeowners decried ongoing flooding issues at their properties. The meeting was held at the Barrington Township building in Barrington. Michael Schmidt/Pioneer Press
Barrington Township Supervisor Robert Alberding speaks during the March 12, 2024 township board meeting at the Barrington Township building in Barrington. A township resident spoke on behalf of himself and other homeowners decrying ongoing flooding issues at their properties. Michael Schmidt/Pioneer Press
Barrington Township Trustee Fritz Gohl speaks during the March 12, 2024 township board meeting at the Barrington Township building in Barrington. A township resident spoke on behalf of himself and other homeowners decrying ongoing flooding issues at their properties. Michael Schmidt/Pioneer Press
He spoke on behalf of 10 homeowners, including himself, from the 1200 block of Prairie Avenue during the March 12 Barrington Township board meeting. He and his neighbors say they have been trying to address the flooding issue for more than 10 years, but because of their location – in unincorporated Barrington – they find themselves attempting to navigate between Barrington Township, the village of Barrington and Cook County.
Bosnick explained in a prepared statement during the meeting – which was also shared with Pioneer Press – that during spring and fall heavy rainfalls, the culvert between the homes at 1209 and 1207 Prairie Avenue becomes overwhelmed and floods the backyard of the 1209 residence. That flooding often leads to the septic tank overflowing and causes the water on the west side of the street to back up into the front yard of the 1208 residence, sometimes even reaching the doorstep, according to Bosnick’s statement.
He also said there is a significant amount of water from a subdivision’s retention ponds draining onto their street, causing the swales along the road to flood.
“The situation is that they’re getting an overflow from Park Barrington which is a development which falls under the village of Barrington,” Barrington Township Supervisor Robert Alberding said in a phone interview with Pioneer Press. “That’s their jurisdiction and the township cannot venture into the village’s jurisdiction.
“What we’ve been doing is acting as an ombudsman to get the message to the village and encouraging them [homeowners] to have a direct dialogue with the village,” Alberding said.
Barrington Township resident Joe Bosnick, left, talks March 12, 2024 with township board members, including Supervisor Robert Alberding, center, and Trustee Edgar Alvarado after talking about flooding in Bosnick’s neighborhood. The spoke after the Barrington Township board meeting at the Barrington Township building in Barrington. Michael Schmidt/Pioneer Press
He explained that the topography of the area is shaped like a double saucer and many residents experiencing flooding are at the bottom of the flow. Alberding said Cook County previously conducted a study and recommended the culvert be regraded to limit the flooding.
“Cook County limits us,” Alberding said. “What they’re recommending falls directly on the homeowners to do those types of improvements.”
Park Barrington is a single-family home development built in the 1990s on Cornell Avenue. In his statement, Bosnick claims that the drainage system on Cornell Avenue is blocked and until it’s reengineered, “it makes no sense for private residents to pay thousands of dollars to widen, deepen and regrade the culvert.” He also stated that the flooding is causing environmental and health impacts to the community.
Marie Hansen, assistant village manager and director of development services for the village of Barrington, also pointed to the study in an email statement to Pioneer Press about the issue.
She said over the last five years, the village has assisted in coordinating completion of bollard removal, cleaning and televising the village’s storm sewer system, and doing maintenance of roadway culverts in the area in response to Cook County’s recommendations. The private work to regrade the ditch, she said, was “to provide a two-inch wide ditch bottom and positive pitch from Prairie [Avenue] to George, which the study notes would assist with mitigating flooding concerns,” but noted it had not been completed.
Explaining other technical aspects of the issue and infrastructure, she said Prairie Avenue properties are outside of the village of Barrington’s jurisdiction and “the development of these lots was permitted through Cook County, not the village of Barrington.”
Additionally, the village is aware of the existing brick overflow weir which is built into the outlet pipe that runs down Prairie Street, Hansen said.
“This weir prevents low flow events from entering the Prairie Avenue system, which benefits the unincorporated area to the north, but does release water down Prairie Avenue in larger flow events,” Hansen said. “We have no documentation that would suggest the pipe in this area was ever intended to be fully blocked.”
She said the village staff met with the township workers last year and “it was determined that should the Township wish to further evaluate modification to the existing storm sewer system, a hydraulic study would be required to show that any requested changes do not cause negative impacts to other properties upstream or downstream.”
Hansen said the village is open to considering modifications to the village storm sewer system if a study proves that it’s impacting other properties. She said the
village has been assisting the township in securing a proposal to complete this study work over the past few weeks and has also been in discussions with the Lake County Stormwater Management Commission and the Cook County Metropolitan Water Reclamation District to address these concerns.
“We’re looking at trying to address the water and drainage conditions throughout the unincorporated area,” Alberding added. “It’s not specific to Prairie Avenue but it’s trying to look at the entire area to get consistency. We may be able to improve it but the area is built up on a very high water table.”
He said the township has been improving drainage, culverts and other forms of water conditions for more than 10 years to eliminate the street surface flooding.
Elizabeth Owens-Schiele is a freelancer.
