Joliet buying land for FEMA-ordered levee

The Joliet City Council will vote Tuesday on whether to buy land for a future downtown levee that city officials have insisted is not needed.

The matter was reviewed at a Monday workshop meeting without discussion, indicating the city is likely to move ahead with the latest measure needed to build the levee estimated to cost $12 million.

The council will vote Tuesday on the acquisition of two of seven parcels of land needed for the project.

The city would pay $115,000 for the property owned by the Chicago Title Land Trust Co.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has designated a large section of downtown and adjacent neighborhoods a floodplain, which means property owners need to acquire flood insurance.

The city is building the levee both to accommodate FEMA and to relieve downtown property owners of the burden of flood insurance coverage.

The levee was labeled a "money grab" on the part of the federal government by Mayor Terry D'Arcy when the council last discussed the matter in October.

Joliet officials have contended that FEMA has imposed a floodplain in the downtown area to offset the costs of hurricanes in coastal regions of the country.

The National Flood Insurance Program is managed by FEMA.

However, Joliet has steadily moved forward with the project in an agreement with the Army Corps of Engineers, which is offsetting city costs with federal funds.

The city is building the levee with an understanding that it will lead to removal of the floodplain designation and the demand that property owners acquire flood insurance.

FEMA in 2019 put a section of downtown Joliet and adjacent neighborhoods in the floodplain.

City officials have insisted that the downtown area is not susceptible to flooding because of the lock and dam system that controls water levels in the Des Plaines River, which is constrained within a concrete river wall as it flows through downtown Joliet.

FEMA points to a possible breach that could occur where the Illinois & Michigan Canal connects with the river at a spot north of Ruby Street.

That is the area where the levee will be built.

D'Arcy's comment characterizing the FEMA action as a "money grab" came as the city agreed to move ahead with a design for the levee and after council member Pat Mudron protested the project but said the city had "no choice."

The plan is to start construction on the levee in 2027 and have it built by 2028.