La Grange updates flood response after judge allows hookup to 54-inch pipe; quarry appeals

La Grange Village President Kugler told the Board of Trustees Monday that a judge ruled in the village's favor in litigation with Hansen Quarry and that the village is planning engineering work to use what was described in court as a 54-inch pipe as part of flood mitigation efforts.

"We were successful with our litigation against the quarry. The judge found unanimously in our favor and ruled that we could hook into what was our 54 inch pipe," President Kugler said, adding that the quarry's attorneys have filed a notice of appeal and a motion for a stay.

The ruling and the quarry's filings matter because trustees and residents described repeated, rapidly occurring summer storms that have caused street and basement flooding across parts of La Grange. Trustees said the village will continue engineering design while the appeal proceeds and that two motions in the trial court (including the village's motion for sanctions) are set to be heard at the end of July.

Kugler said village engineers have been engaged "to start the process of studying how best to implement the flood mitigation so that we can get as much water out of the village as possible." He cautioned, however, that plans are "far from finalized" and that the village will discuss litigation strategy in closed session after the meeting.

Residents pressed the board for faster, more concrete steps. Sarah Gall, a Sunset Avenue resident, said repeated storms have left neighbors living on edge. "It is truly untenable living conditions," she told trustees during public comment.

Laura West and her husband described sewage and stormwater backing up at a corner of their block during a recent heavy rain and urged the village to pursue both short-term homeowner relief and longer-term system changes. John Pluto, another resident, urged transparency about proposals and raised concerns about community infrastructure, including the pumping station and quarry blasting.

Trustee Thompson summarized technical and intergovernmental constraints the village faces: the local sewer system is largely combined and old, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) has placed hydraulic restrictors on the village's sewer outlets to the deep tunnel system, and the McCook Reservoir project that will increase regional storage remains years from completion. "If we can't get somewhere for the water to go, we can't do anything with it," Thompson said, adding that McCook's reservoir is now expected by trustees to be completed in 2029 and that MWRD has judged some flooding issues to be local in scope.

Trustees and staff urged homeowners with flood damage to file reports with Public Works. Director Colby confirmed the village has a scheduled inspection of the municipal reservoir and standpipe later this year and said professionals will investigate any issues raised by residents about visible cracks or efflorescence on reservoir surfaces.

Kugler also said state and county elected officials had contacted the village after the recent storm and offered assistance; he named State Representative Abdelnasser Rashid, State Senator Mike Porfirio and Cook County Commissioner Frank Aguilar as officials working on behalf of the village to seek state or county support.

The board will continue engineering work and intergovernmental outreach while litigation proceeds; trustees recessed into a closed session to discuss the pending motions and appeal and did not reconvene to take additional public action.

Ending: Trustees emphasized the technical and funding limits on immediate fixes and asked residents to document damage so engineering studies can incorporate local conditions.