The Flossmoor Village Board approved an agreement with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District to take ownership and convert the flood risk property at 1648 Western Ave. to open land.

The board also authorized Mayor Michelle Nelson to sign an agreement with FEMA Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) Program for a grant to help with demolition of the home and remediation. 

According to the memo from the meeting’s agenda, village staff applied to the MWRD Flood Prone Property Acquisition Program in May 2015 and were selected that June. 

When the village notified the then property owners, staff learned the house had been sold to the current owners who were not interested in the buyout program. The property owners must agree to sell for the project to go forward. 

The project was on pause until 2022 when the current property owners contacted the village about wanting to participate. The village again applied for the MWRD program in January 2023 and the FEMA FMA program in June 2023. 

The MWRD program will supply 25% of the funding for property acquisition with an amount limit of $115,00 and the FEMA FMA grant amount limit is $373,200. 

The Trump administration put the village’s FEMA grant on pause earlier this year, but funding has now been released.

Once the home is gone and the property’s land is restored, the village will deed restrict the land, preventing future homes from being built on the site. 

Public Works Director John Brunke presented the agreement to the village board and took questions at the Aug. 4 meeting.

Trustee Rosalind Mustafa asked whether some of the older architectural components of the home could be salvaged for artistic purposes and memory’s sake. She said she had a personal history with the home, which she and her husband once considered buying. 

The homeowners were in the audience and the trustees expressed their empathy for the situation of having to deal with frequent floods and having to leave the property.