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Neighbor raises drainage and conflict-of-interest concerns over church housing project
Summary
Rob Dixon, who lives adjacent to a church-owned lot, told the council the planned house and driveway could increase runoff and questioned whether the church's engineer, a church trustee, represents a conflict of interest; he asked for independent review and runoff calculations.
Rob Dixon told the Monticello City Council he lives next door to a lot the Christian church sold to a builder and raised detailed concerns about stormwater and potential conflicts of interest in the development process.
"I live next door to the property that the Christian church is developing for a ... house," Dixon said. He described plans for a roughly 15-by-560-foot driveway and a house that together add about 10,700 square feet of impervious surface and said he has repeatedly requested stormwater runoff calculations that he has not received. Dixon said he previously granted the church an easement for stormwater tied to a detention basin and worries the new construction could interfere with the basin and existing drainage tile under his front yard.
Dixon also named Steve Balman, whom he described as a registered professional engineer in Illinois and a trustee of the Christian church, and said Balman certified the plat. "It seems to be a conflict of interest that the engineer is also an elder of the church," Dixon said, and asked the city to obtain an independent engineering opinion and to share the runoff calculations with him.
The presiding officer did not provide a technical response at the meeting but urged Dixon to work with city staff. "If you've contacted city staff, they should be able to help you figure out what's going on," the presiding officer said. Dixon said he had contacted staff and that city staff (Jim) was already working with him.
No formal action or vote was taken at the meeting on Dixon's request. The council and staff acknowledged the concern and indicated staff follow-up would be the next step; Dixon pressed for independent review because he said the engineer is both the certifying professional and a church trustee. The record shows Dixon described past localized flooding and a plugged pipe that previously flooded a neighbor's basement as part of his rationale for heightened concern.
What happens next: Dixon asked for independent review and for the city to provide rational-method runoff calculations; the transcript records staff awareness and a commitment to follow up, but no independent study or decision was issued during the meeting.
