floodedland
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Illinois
The village board is useless and I need some help! Our yard gets flooded when we get heavy rains due to the fact that the neighbor behind me put in a pool and raised her ground which butts up to the back side of my fence.The ground is any where from 4" to 8" inches higher than mine. It has obstructed the natural flow of water, it now doesn't flow to the end out to the street, it floods my yard and last year my finished basement! We went to the village board meeting asking them to address the lack of drainage issue and stated that we haven't had a water problem any where near as bad before she put in the pool. Last May the village came out and used 2 pumps from the fire house and pumped out enough water to fill 2 1/2 inground swimming pools from my yard and we had to pump our finished basement and repair the damages. The village constantly goes back and fourth as to if there's an easement and how much and who should do what and decided that we need drainage. Well after months of "we're working on it, 2 weeks we'll get started." Nothing has been done, except the constant worrying I have to due when it rains! The neighbor has now decided to put her house up for sale, so we went to the board again to ask for some resolution before she vacates and we have to burden the new neighbor with the problem. The village has now decided that she is at fault, further more she doesn't have a permit for the amount of concrete she has, and also has more concrete than allowed on her property along with a concrete pad on the easement. The village attorney has decided that it would cost the village to much and that this is a civil issue and we should sue her, we'll win. Why should I have to spend my money to fight something that she did, that the village building inspector didn't follow through on? The village sent her a letter stating that she didn't have a permit to do the work that she did and apparently have her "X" amount of days to do something. Well, I don't know who she's sleeping with on the board, but they came back and said that they weren't going to penalize her or do anything and that we should sue her! Well the letter they sent to her and her realator regarding the property made her head spin and she has no plans what so ever to make any changes and has resorted to childish behavior, which of course I too have taken action against that. One afternoon the police came to my door, because she called saying that my kids have been throwing baseballs in her yard. The officers inquired more about her accusations because they know us and knew that my youngest son just got out of the surgery from a horrible bike accident (that's a lawsuit in itself), her response was that it didn't happen that day, but about 2 weeks ago. My husband thought we would solve the problem of the balls going into her yard by putting up a safety netting, it's orange like the stuff they use on construction sites. She is livid and now the building inspector says that it's a violation of the city ordinace that a fence can't be more than 6' tall and this netting is about 4' over our privacy fencing. I thought we were doing what she wanted, and keeping balls from her yard. It's funny how quick the village reacted to the fence, but the major flooding problem is still an unsolved issue!! What are my rights? I read the sheet I was issued on unlawful fences and (1) this is not a fence (2) it doesn't clearly state anything other than it's unlawful to have a fence of certain requirements with out a permit. Any help would be appreciated as soon as possible, board meeting tonight about my fence! Thanks and sorry about the chapter!
The village board is useless and I need some help! Our yard gets flooded when we get heavy rains due to the fact that the neighbor behind me put in a pool and raised her ground which butts up to the back side of my fence.The ground is any where from 4" to 8" inches higher than mine. It has obstructed the natural flow of water, it now doesn't flow to the end out to the street, it floods my yard and last year my finished basement! We went to the village board meeting asking them to address the lack of drainage issue and stated that we haven't had a water problem any where near as bad before she put in the pool. Last May the village came out and used 2 pumps from the fire house and pumped out enough water to fill 2 1/2 inground swimming pools from my yard and we had to pump our finished basement and repair the damages. The village constantly goes back and fourth as to if there's an easement and how much and who should do what and decided that we need drainage. Well after months of "we're working on it, 2 weeks we'll get started." Nothing has been done, except the constant worrying I have to due when it rains! The neighbor has now decided to put her house up for sale, so we went to the board again to ask for some resolution before she vacates and we have to burden the new neighbor with the problem. The village has now decided that she is at fault, further more she doesn't have a permit for the amount of concrete she has, and also has more concrete than allowed on her property along with a concrete pad on the easement. The village attorney has decided that it would cost the village to much and that this is a civil issue and we should sue her, we'll win. Why should I have to spend my money to fight something that she did, that the village building inspector didn't follow through on? The village sent her a letter stating that she didn't have a permit to do the work that she did and apparently have her "X" amount of days to do something. Well, I don't know who she's sleeping with on the board, but they came back and said that they weren't going to penalize her or do anything and that we should sue her! Well the letter they sent to her and her realator regarding the property made her head spin and she has no plans what so ever to make any changes and has resorted to childish behavior, which of course I too have taken action against that. One afternoon the police came to my door, because she called saying that my kids have been throwing baseballs in her yard. The officers inquired more about her accusations because they know us and knew that my youngest son just got out of the surgery from a horrible bike accident (that's a lawsuit in itself), her response was that it didn't happen that day, but about 2 weeks ago. My husband thought we would solve the problem of the balls going into her yard by putting up a safety netting, it's orange like the stuff they use on construction sites. She is livid and now the building inspector says that it's a violation of the city ordinace that a fence can't be more than 6' tall and this netting is about 4' over our privacy fencing. I thought we were doing what she wanted, and keeping balls from her yard. It's funny how quick the village reacted to the fence, but the major flooding problem is still an unsolved issue!! What are my rights? I read the sheet I was issued on unlawful fences and (1) this is not a fence (2) it doesn't clearly state anything other than it's unlawful to have a fence of certain requirements with out a permit. Any help would be appreciated as soon as possible, board meeting tonight about my fence! Thanks and sorry about the chapter!