Cedar Rapids issues final call for flood buyouts...again

CEDAR RAPIDS - One month more: That's it for getting into the city's post-flood property buyout program.

Joe O'Hern, the city's flood recovery and reinvestment director, told the City Council's Flood Recovery Committee on Friday that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is closing the city's property buyout program down on June 1.

The June 1 deadline will require property owners not yet in the program to sign on before the Flood Recovery Committee meets again in a month to enable the city time to process such applications by the federal deadline.

O'Hern said the city had put itself in a “curious position” because the City Council had closed applications to the buyout program in June 2011. Since, though, the council has agreed to grant exceptions such as four additional properties that the council committee on Friday said could enter the buyout program.

Two of the four are commercial properties, City Beat Bar & Grill, 302 Third Ave. SW, and a hair salon, 220 Third St. SW.

Committee Chairman Don Karr and member Ann Poe said they were sorry to see the two businesses closing their doors at the two sites.

[UPDATE 3/26/12: Julie Ganoe, owner at City Beat Bar & Grill and Collette Barnes, owner of Shag's Family Hair Care, at the 220 Third St. SW address, said their businesses will remain open during a flood buyout process and are not closing in the near future. ]

As of Friday, the city had closed on the purchase of 1,190 properties in the flood-recovery buyout program. Another 168 properties have signed up for the program and their purchases are in progress, according to the city's figures.

To date, the city has spent $77.25 million to buy flood-damaged properties and another $20 million to demolish 957 homes and four commercial businesses. Another 67 homes and 33 commercial buildings are ready for demolition, according to the city's figures.

To date, only four commercial structures have been demolished of perhaps 100 that may be purchased in the buyout program. O'Hern said he expected the pace of commercial demolitions to pick up as the city works to clean up in preparation for the RAGBRAI cyclists' overnight stop in Cedar Rapids on July 26.