Dec. 07--Six abandoned houses along Dumoulin Street in Lisle are drawing a growing number of raccoons and skunks, leading neighbors to suspect they still are filled with rotting debris from the April 2013 flood.
Occupants of the houses, some as small as cottages, left as several feet of water rose toward their ceilings, knowing efforts to salvage their homes would be futile, neighbors say.
The houses are an unwanted reminder of the disaster, which washed away Christmas ornaments and family photographs stored in basements and filled living rooms with murky sewage water. And now, new anxieties about living near St. Joseph Creek have arisen since DuPage County applied for a federal grant to revitalize flood-stricken areas and possibly take their homes.
"If we have to move, we can probably rent a place," said Jeff Pankow, who's lived in his home for about 20 years with his wife and two children. "But for a lot of people here, they might not be able to."
In late October, the county announced it would apply for a competitive federal grant of between $43 million and $50 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to cover unmet flood needs. While county officials emphasize they have no set plans or proposals for how the money would be spent, they were required to include rough concepts in their application.
Residents were shocked by one of the concepts, which according to a draft of the application, suggested removing about "200 existing structures from the regulatory flood plain, comprised mostly of homes." They say they're most frustrated by the lack of information regarding the county's plans for the grant, but county officials continue to say buyouts are one of several options.
Should the county or another government entity seize their property, residents want to be alerted well in advance.
"You'll find that in any situation like this, everyone can agree on one thing: Information isn't getting out," Pankow said.
Dozens of towns that suffered a natural disaster between 2011 and 2013 qualified to compete for grants through the National Disaster Resilience Competition. The millions of dollars in federal funding are left over from Hurricane Katrina East Coast funding.
In its application draft, the county lists flood mitigation options including maintaining the existing 50-year berm or replacing the berm with a levee system. The "preferred" option calls for a combination of fill and sheet piling to raise the area out of the flood plain, rather than turning to a complete levee system.
But this approach would require removing a majority of homes, something the draft calls "a difficult task even with the county's existing buyout program."
Jim Zay, who has been chairman of the county's stormwater committee for more than a decade, said that, while the county doesn't have a set plan, it would not likely force homeowners out but rather offer a voluntary buyout.
"That area's still going to keep flooding, so we'll have to deal with the flooding first. A major option is to work on projects first," he said. "Then, if there are people who want a buyout, sure, they can take it. But we've never forcibly bought people out in the years I've been there."
Zay also said it's possible some of the funding would be deferred to the village of Lisle to use as officials see fit for flood mitigation. Yet, Lisle officials are reluctant to even discuss options for the St. Joseph Creek area because of the uncertainty of the funding, said Mayor Joseph Broda.
"My board was asking the county questions and [the county] said they haven't thought that far ahead. I feel uncomfortable commenting on it," he said. "There is nothing in our vision about eminent domain on the properties. We haven't even thought of it, and we don't have the funds to do it."
Carroll Roark, administrator of community development and the liaison between the county and HUD, said in October that if buyouts occur, houses would be valued at their pre-flooding fair market value by appraisers.
Area residents say that their pre-flood, early 2013 home value is still far lower than what it was before the 2008 recession, when many took out home loans. That could mean they'd be stuck with residual mortgage payments even after they received government compensation for their houses.
