Demolition deadline

CEDAR RAPIDS - The fact that thousands of RAGBRAI riders are due to descend on Cedar Rapids in late July is encouraging the city to finish up its demolition of flood-damaged homes.

So far, the city has torn down 957 homes and six commercial properties that were damaged beyond repair in the Floods of 2008. Officials this week awarded a contract for the removal of another 75 homes obtained through the post-flood buyout program.

But with an influx of bicyclists scheduled to arrive July 26 and spend the night during the annual ride across Iowa, the city may adjust some demolition schedules and locations so visitors won't see the crumbling, flood-damaged homes and businesses that remain standing.

In hard-hit areas like the northwest Time Check neighborhood, residents are used to seeing backhoes chewing up buildings. Christine Goodwin said she's lived next door to a “nuisance” for more than three and a half years - and when the home was finally demolished Wednesday, some of her frustration disappeared as well.

“The sign on the window said it was going to be torn down last September. I kept calling and leaving messages and they (the city) never got back to me,” she said. “It's nice it's done now.”

This latest batch of teardowns doesn't mark the end of the process, but it's getting nearer. In fact, it's so close that officials want to have the remaining 100 to 200 demolitions almost wrapped up by the time the crowds roll into town.

John Riggs, a city flood recovery project manager, said the idea in the coming weeks and months is to look at the demolition process through a lens of RAGBRAI preparation. Total completion by late July might be a tall order, though.

“That may be stretching it to make it to that point and be done by then,” he said. “At that point we'd be near the end of our last contracts, but there will be several after that.”

Riggs said if the city can't wrap up all of the demolition by the time the bicyclists get here, the alternative would be to clear areas close to any RAGBRAI routes. For instance, if riders camp overnight at the Kingston Stadium grounds as expected, damaged homes or businesses on streets leading from there to the downtown entertainment venues will get demolition priorities.

“I think we'll have to pick our spots,” he said.

Riggs said a lot still depends on when the city takes possession of the remaining buyout properties. That has to occur before any demolition can take place.

But if contractors are still tearing down homes and businesses by the fourth week of July, he said, they'll have to shut down and clean up the work sites for a few days out of concern for the bicyclists' safety.