Cedar Rapids closes in on final flood control lines

CEDAR RAPIDS — Engineering and design consultants Tuesday unveiled a proposed near-final alignment of the city's coming flood control system, which largely resembles preliminary plans from 2008 but will likely include additional property buyouts.

The latest proposal came at the third in a series of public sessions in recent months. This time, advisers HR Green and Stanley Consultants eliminated alternative alignments in a few sensitive spots and landed on an alignment not apt to change much before the City Council considers it this summer, said Jim Halverson, a vice president for HR Green.

As a result:

• On the Cedar River's west side, about 15 homes along the river as Ellis Boulevard NW turns toward Ellis Park will not be protected by the system and likely will face city buyouts.

• The same is true for a few other residential properties in Time Check, as well as the Hubbard Ice building, 1124 First St. NW. The Best Western Cooper's Mill Hotel and Convention Center at 100 F Ave. NW also is unprotected.

• On the river's east side, the proposed final alignment does not run far enough to the north to protect Cedar Lake, which the Friends of Cedar Lake had hoped to see protected.

Halverson said HR Green, which is working on the west-side alignment of the system, was trying to accomplish two things at once — protecting properties from future floods while keeping the negative impacts at a minimum. But he said the firm came to realize that it was 'very difficult' to avoid negative consequences for properties in the Ellis Boulevard NW area by the river.

He said he doubted the homes on the river side of Ellis Boulevard NW near Ellis Park would remain, both because their flood insurance cost are expected to soar and because the city may need to purchase flood easements to keep the homes in place, which could cost as much as a buyout, he said.

Craig Augustine, 1855 Ellis Blvd. NW, has been among the homeowners fighting to remain. But Tuesday he said he's done fighting.

'We're not happy. But it's over,' said Augustine, who met with Halverson in recent weeks.

Augustine said Halverson estimated it might be a decade before the flood control construction gets to that area.

'By then, I'll be 66, maybe I'll be ready to find a simpler life,' he said.

At the same time, Al Pierson, owner of Pierson's Flower Shop and Greenhouses, 1800 Ellis Blvd. NW, will see his property and other properties on the west side of Ellis protected by a new levee across the street.

'It certainly benefits me, but I think it benefits the neighborhood,' Pierson said. He said he 'feels bad' for those left unprotected, and he said he expected the city to treat people 'fairly.'

City Council member Scott Olson, one of eight owners of the Hubbard Ice building, said Tuesday that it did not appear the higher cost of flood insurance and the possible cost to the city of a flood easement would allow the building to stay open and unprotected.

Dale Todd, who heads up the Cedar Lake advocacy group Friends of Cedar Lake, said his group still believes that the lake's recreational potential will be jeopardized without flood control, as will some businesses to the north and east. He said the engineers were 'shortsighted.'

Dan Miller, a project principal at Stanley Consultants, said Tuesday that the current alignment plan, which mirrors one approved by the Army Corps of Engineers, likely will keep the Cedar Lake extension in the plan as an option. However, incorporating it into the plan now might jeopardize Corps funding, which the city continues to try to secure, he said.

As long anticipated, the system will feature removable flood walls downtown, in Czech Village and in Kingston Village; a levee system in Time Check, below Czech Village and at New Bohemia; and permanent flood walls around industries, the federal courthouse, and the African American Museum of Iowa.