Archdiocese Signals Reluctance To Use Cemetery For Flood Relief

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OAK LAWN (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Officials in southwest suburban Oak Lawn say the answer to the village’s flooding issues in recent years might just be a cemetery across the border in the city of Chicago.Oak Lawn Mayor Sandra Bury said rain fell at such a torrential pace this week, it was "almost biblical", with some residents reporting receiving rainfall amounts of about 2 inches in less than 30 minutes.

“That’s absolutely crazy,” she said.

Several basements were flooded, as were first-floor living areas of homes that do not have basements, the mayor said.

The village has been in informal talks over the years with the Chicago Archdiocese about leasing or buying part of one of the archdiocese cemeteries so that it could be used for flood relief."Right adjacent to the village of Oak Lawn is St. Casimir Cemetery on 111th and Cicero, and the whole west side of that is natural wetlands and it’s not really suitable for burial,” Mayor Bury said.

The plan would preserve current and future grave sites, she said.The Archdiocese said it has never received a formal proposal from Oak Lawn and, in an email from archdiocese spokeswoman Anne Maselli, notes the village allowed land that could have been used for flood relief on the northwest corner of 111th and Cicero to be used for commercial developments.

"This property would have been of sufficient size for them to use to act as a retention pond for the flooding issues that Oak Lawn experiences,” she said.