Feds ask for more info on controversial Iowa City levee

IOWA CITY – The federal government is seeking more information about a proposed Iowa City levee that has drawn criticism from residents whose homes would be behind it.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has asked the city to gather additional information though an independent study of the effects of the levee, David Purdy, the city's flood recovery specialist, said Friday.

That request came after several residents sent letters to Sen. Chuck Grassley's office asking that the government take back the $8 million grant it awarded the city last fall for the $10 million project, he said.

HUD has not rescinded the grant and has given no indication it will do so, he said.

Wally Taylor, a Cedar Rapids attorney representing the owners of the nine homes left on Taft Speedway, called the review “entirely appropriate.”

“That was one of our main arguments, that the city's application to HUD … didn't make any mention of the folks on Taft Speedway who are going to be on the wrong side of the levee,” he said. “So the grant was made on incorrect or insufficient information.”

Purdy confirmed the application itself did not mention the homes left on Taft Speedway but said the city attached a petition signed by 10 people objecting to the levee.

The City Council in December OK'd the levee, which would be created by elevating Taft Speedway and No Name Road up to 10 feet high. That would protect access to the Peninsula neighborhood and 92 condominium units in the Idyllwild neighborhood, which the city says has a property tax value of up to $22 million.

It also would put on the river side of the levee the nine homes remaining on Taft Speedway.

Owners were warned of that possibility when the city first offered federal buyouts for the flood-damaged homes. Four property owners took buyouts. Idyllwild residents were not eligible for buyouts.

A University of Iowa model has shown that, with the levee in place, the water would be 4 inches lower in a 100-year flood and 6 1/2 inches lower in a 500-year flood at the midpoint on Taft Avenue.

Purdy said the study will run that model again, consider whether any additional flood insurance will be required of the residents because of the levee and try to determine possible flood damage to the homes with the levee in place.

The study is estimated to cost up to $50,000, which the Iowa Department of Economic Development has agreed to pay, he said. A request for proposals will go out in the next few weeks. The study may take a few months to complete, he said, and a public meeting will be held to discuss the results.

That will push the project back by the same amount of time, Purdy said. Design work is to be undertaken this year, with the goal of starting construction next year, he said.

Taylor said it's possible the residents would support another type of flood-protection system, but not the levee. There is no immediate plan to take legal action, but that option is always on the table, he said.