Flood Control

Summary

Brookfield grew very quickly during the last 30 years without adequate thought being given to controlling where rain water went. In 1997 and 1998 Brookfield suffered huge floods. As a result, Brookfield has spent tens of millions of dollars in the last five years to get flooding under control. In addition, building codes have been tightened up to prevent the same mistakes. Alderman Berg voted for those improvements and supports the tough new building codes, even though they cost a fortune.

Updated: April 20, 2002

But it's well known that the city has added thousands of homes in the last 10 years and hasn't done anything about flooding - right?

Really?! Well, look at the following chart of sewer and flood control projects. You will see that Brookfield has spent millions of dollars all over the city to control flooding and sewer backups. Note that these are mostly older neighborhoods with moderate priced homes. You didn't have to live in a mansion to get the attention you needed.

The five year (2002-2006) capital improvement budget allocates $8,144,900 for stormwater projects and $8,742,000 for sanitary sewer projects and equipment. If you want to call $16,886,900 in stormwater and sewer projects in the next five years "nothing", your checkbook is a lot bigger than the City of Brookfield's!

The underlined items directly affect some part of the 5th district. This is far from a complete list, but you get the idea.

As you read the chart, here's something to think about. All those millions of dollars spent on flood control (as well as road construction) come from the city borrowing money. That increase in the debt also increases the debt service (loan payments) portion of the city's budget. Which would you rather have, higher debt service (and thus higher taxes) to pay for improving sewers and controlling floods, or two feet of raw sewage in your basement? If you think you would like even more flood control, or bigger roads, how would you get all those tens of millions of dollars without raising taxes?

Location	Completed	Cost
Imperial Estates	X	$485,000
Rosedale	X	$1,150,000
Manhole & Sewer Lining - Robinwood, Imperial Estates, Rosedale, Greenfield Ave.	X	$800,000
Robinwood sewer relay	X	$772,000
Manhole & Sewer Lining - Burlawn	X	$763,000
Burlawn Sewer Interceptor Upgrade	X	$2,300,000
Riverview Road Sewer Interceptor	X	$2,600,000
Post Road Sewer Improvements	X	$64,000
Greenfield Heights	X	$384,000
Replace old manhole covers with new sealed covers that prevent rain from leaking in.	Ongoing	$250,000+
Television inspection of sewers looking for leaks	Ongoing	$100,000+
Renovate manhole covers and sewers as the surrounding road is repaved	Ongoing	$175,000/year
Calhoun Road East Streambank Stabilization	2002	$639,900
Lily Road Sewer Relay	2003	$220,000
Underwood Creek Interceptor	2003	$1,000,000
Detention Pond - Northeast corner of North Avenue and Calhoun Road to drain Hillsdale and surrounding area.	2003	$800,000
Indianwood Relay	2004	$400,000
Beverly Hills Sewer Relay	2005	$500,000
James St. 124th to Bobolink sewer	2006	$415,000
Storm Golf Course Detention Pond (see: Storm Golf Property)	2006	$2,150,000