What to do about my new water feature
- Thread starter Broke EF
- Start date
I’m opposite the OP, if the costs were close to the same, I’m doing a berm just to be a spiteful prick. 
Open link, scroll down to Water Resource Management, Click link and send email. Then stand back. No monies spent. By you anyhow......
www2.illinois.gov
[email protected]
Contact Us - About Us
[email protected]
Open link, scroll down to Water Resource Management, Click link and send email. Then stand back. No monies spent. By you anyhow......
Contact Us - About Us
[email protected]
Here is the response
The problem you describe falls into the category of drainage. The Department has no programs to assist individual property owners with drainage issues. The law related to drainage is called the Drainage Code. It generally states that the natural flow of water cannot be changed in relation to the amount and location of flow between two properties. The change you describe may violate that law. The statute has no administrative agency assigned to administer it. This leaves the resolution of violations to the courts. You will need to file suit in circuit court if you need assistance. You should contact an attorney to discuss the process, potential resolution and costs.
DWRM
Just because I don't respond does not mean I am ignoring whats said. I read through both of those, and others. It is almost 100% certain he is breaking one or more laws. When someone breaks the law do you call a lawyer? No, you contact the proper agencies, and start there. I contacted my city, which pushed it to the county. I contacted them multiple times to no avail, so I went to the next level which is the DNR.
Seems kind of bullshit for me to have to hire a lawyer to go after someone who is breaking a law. I figured I would need one at some point if I have to spend money to fix my yard, but for now they are breaking the law and I have long grass and water. In theory if they put it back how it was, all of my problems are solved with mowing it after it dries up some.
Seems kind of bullshit for me to have to hire a lawyer to go after someone who is breaking a law. I figured I would need one at some point if I have to spend money to fix my yard, but for now they are breaking the law and I have long grass and water. In theory if they put it back how it was, all of my problems are solved with mowing it after it dries up some.
Sorry, I meant no offense. We just seemed to be circling back to what I had originally posted...
And I'm not saying that you have to hire the attorney, talk to an attorney. Find one that you know or trust and can steer you in the right direction or may have some alternative solutions. Especially a lawyer that specializes in real estate, criminal or PI lawyers generally won't know anything about this side of the law.
And I'm not saying that you have to hire the attorney, talk to an attorney. Find one that you know or trust and can steer you in the right direction or may have some alternative solutions. Especially a lawyer that specializes in real estate, criminal or PI lawyers generally won't know anything about this side of the law.
Even if I do something like that, it wont be this year. You will be the first to know though
No offense taken, just been a shitty day so I may have come off harsher than I intended. This whole deal is super frustrating in that everyone just agrees its wrong and it sucks, and they probably are breaking the law, and the solution is for me to start shelling out money and doing work.
Ill give you another example of BS like this. I was parked in a parking lot, my buddy was in the car while I ran inside a store. I come back and he was like you know that van hit your car right. Sure enough he clipped my car getting into his spot next to me, doing a decent amount of damage. Guy comes out and I asked hey, did you hit my car? Yeah, so what... Eventually I call the cops, they tell me to exchange info but he wont give me his insurance, they wont send a cop over and tell me to go to the station. I go to the station and the cops tell me, well you know where he lives Id just go throw a brick through his window. They wont even go after him for no insurance, a thing I have been arrested for when I forgot to put my new card in my wallet. So someone else breaks the law, damages my property, and my recourse is to break the law myself and spend my own money to repair the damage.
That sucks 
I agree, shitty and unenviable situation. Especially since it's your neighbor and you have to continue to live next to them. I'm always in the try all avenues before getting police, attorneys, city/county involved, but it seems like this guy has left you no choice, and only seems to be escalating.
I agree, shitty and unenviable situation. Especially since it's your neighbor and you have to continue to live next to them. I'm always in the try all avenues before getting police, attorneys, city/county involved, but it seems like this guy has left you no choice, and only seems to be escalating.
Forgot I took this pic Saturday after cutting the grass. You can see where I had to start cutting wider after a few weeks when we had some rain. The stuff closest to the drain is ~3' long or so. You can also see the tire tracks on the edges where the mower sinks in, so you know I am not just leaving this area long for the heck of it.
Last thing to notice, you can get a better idea of how its all graded. I would need to berm the entire length, and in the center it would need to be decently tall. I only own up to the end of the trees on the right hand side as well, so water could easily go around whatever I would build up. Those trees to the right of the wetland are on raised ground, about 1-2' higher than the ground in front of them.
Last thing to notice, you can get a better idea of how its all graded. I would need to berm the entire length, and in the center it would need to be decently tall. I only own up to the end of the trees on the right hand side as well, so water could easily go around whatever I would build up. Those trees to the right of the wetland are on raised ground, about 1-2' higher than the ground in front of them.
Forgot I took this pic Saturday after cutting the grass. You can see where I had to start cutting wider after a few weeks when we had some rain. The stuff closest to the drain is ~3' long or so. You can also see the tire tracks on the edges where the mower sinks in, so you know I am not just leaving this area long for the heck of it.
Last thing to notice, you can get a better idea of how its all graded. I would need to berm the entire length, and in the center it would need to be decently tall. I only own up to the end of the trees on the right hand side as well, so water could easily go around whatever I would build up. Those trees to the right of the wetland are on raised ground, about 1-2' higher than the ground in front of them.
I would do a berm the height of the trees to the right along that entire property line all the way to the house. If it doesnt flood him out then itll go to the other side of the trees. Either way your property is dry.
At the same time, that land apears to befinitely be a swale there, so if you are ever going to build on the land, it would make more sense to put a culvert across the property and level it off.
Hey, I remember saying that a while backI would do a berm the height of the trees to the right along that entire property line all the way to the house. If it doesnt flood him out then itll go to the other side of the trees. Either way your property is dry.
At the same time, that land apears to befinitely be a swale there, so if you are ever going to build on the land, it would make more sense to put a culvert across the property and level it off.
So the pipe is in.
On Wednesday I rode the ATV through the grass to get an idea of how it was doing. It actually was pretty dry. Enough to be able to mow with minimal damage anyway.
Just got my mower back today, so I am gonna put it to the test tonight plowing though this stuff assuming the rain yesterday didn't fuck it all up again.
so they fixed it?Hey, I remember saying that a while back
So the pipe is in.
On Wednesday I rode the ATV through the grass to get an idea of how it was doing. It actually was pretty dry. Enough to be able to mow with minimal damage anyway.
Just got my mower back today, so I am gonna put it to the test tonight plowing though this stuff assuming the rain yesterday didn't fuck it all up again.
Depends on your viewpoint. I guess it also depends how deep they have it on the pond side. If they actually buried it at a height that only has water come through it when its way overflowed, then yeah. If they have it at a point to keep it lower than normal, then no. I have no idea if they have it all done, or just this end. I came home one day and it was like that. I only really saw one section of pipe though, so maybe they just replaced the very end of it?
Again, the shittiest thing to me is not talking to me about it at all. Even after I went and talked to them once and was pretty polite about it all, still never bothered to say hey this is whats going on, sorry about that. Like I have said before, I wont be doing anything like a drain or a berm this year regardless. At this point I am just going to see how it all works for the rest of the year and plan whatever for next year. Hopefully they really did just clean out and repair an existing drain like they said, and it was just so much more over filled than it has been that it screwed me longer than they expected. Time will tell at this point.
Those are my trees, so I would need to take em out and replant them ideally. I do have some ideas for a nice looking berm thanks to
BADAZZTEALCOBRA but I still think if/when I do anything it will be something buried so I can level out at least a big chunk of that land to build a shop. Its either that, or buy the lot next to me (to the right or the trees) and build it over there. But contrary to popular belief, I dont actually have money to do anything like that any time in the foreseeable future.
I was able to mow it down last night!! Took me 2.5 hours to just cut the grass, usually its about an hour give or take. I had to go super slow over it all, even with the blade higher than normal. I went over a lot of it twice as well.
The first pass, notice the tall trails down the middle.
Its really hard to get an idea of the height, but most of it was over my knee
Gonna take a while to get this all chopped up and spread around!
Unfortunately I have stuff to do after work today, so I wont be able to get back out there until tomorrow. I am planning on raising the blade a bit and running that all over a few times in a few directions. Cant tell with all the clumps of grass, but there is some erosion I will have to deal with. I just hope it stays dry again!
The first pass, notice the tall trails down the middle.
Its really hard to get an idea of the height, but most of it was over my knee
Gonna take a while to get this all chopped up and spread around!
Unfortunately I have stuff to do after work today, so I wont be able to get back out there until tomorrow. I am planning on raising the blade a bit and running that all over a few times in a few directions. Cant tell with all the clumps of grass, but there is some erosion I will have to deal with. I just hope it stays dry again!
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