Dramatic change at a glacial pace

We've been looking at lines on maps around these parts since the fall of 2008, when the Cedar Rapids City Council first approved a flood protection plan for the city's downtown and core neighborhoods.

Those lines are now coming into final focus, nearly seven years later. The city threw another pair of open houses on Tuesday at the public library to show folks what the nearly final plan looks like. Can I say, yet again, I really, truly think explaining the plan in a public forum and taking questions for all to hear beats the pants off milling around placards? No? Well, I'm not taking it back.

On Tuesday, if you walked into this spring soiree, what the city and its consultants hit you with first weren't more lines. Instead of floating you above the protection plan, they brought you down to earth. And the potential change in the city's landscape is striking.

There's the Time Check greenway on the wet side of a broad, green levee, with soccer fields and a baseball diamond and something called the 'Great lawn.” Removable walls allow a connection between the greenway and Time Check Park on the dry side.

Up and down the west bank of the Cedar River are terraces and 'natural stone,” levees and walls, some 'cantilevered,' some 'demountable.”

The Czech Village also gets a great lawn and 'festival grounds.” There are bikeways, trails and an 'urban plaza” on the east side of the river downtown, just off the 'promenade.” There are flood gates across main roads that also serve as neighborhood gateways.

What I like most about all these impressive renderings is that the city's response to the Cedar's worst moment is a flood protection plan that's determined to bring people back to the river for recreation. It's an optimistic response to a dark chapter.

But, before we cue the harp and chorus, what's the price tag?

'We see a lot of pretty pictures,' said Rob Davis, the city's flood control program manager. 'I'm going to make sure we can afford them.”

The lines on the map, levees, flood walls, etc., on both sides of the river are expected to cost $570 million. The state has pledged $264 million in sales tax proceeds over the next 20 years for west bank projects. The feds have authorized east bank protection, but no dollars have yet followed. Some of the striking amenities are built in, but some are extra. Future City Councils will decide what the city can afford.

There are other costs, human costs. More homeowners are going to face relocation, including people along Ellis Boulevard who are losing a little slice of heaven on the river to make way for protecting the community from another soggy hell. It's a sacrifice. I hope the city keeps these homeowners and others affected well-informed, and handles these final buyouts with compassion and respect. We'll be watching.

But 20 years. Let that sink in. I may be deep into my AARP membership before I get a chance to do any serious promenading. Wheel me on to the grand lawn, kids. Where will we park our flying cars?

So it's going to move in like a glacier. A glacier that slowly changes the face of this city for generations to come. The map lines that we've watched so closely will become real.

' Comments: (319) 398-0832; todd.dorman@thegazette.com