FEMA official says in Cedar Rapids that word of the first buyouts of homes here should come this month

The wait may be ending.

Look for word this month on the buyout of a first group of flood-damaged Cedar Rapids properties, a FEMA official told the The Gazette editorial board in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday.

Chris Rolleston, the hazard mitigation branch director at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said he expected FEMA to approve a buyout plan for 117 properties in the city yet this month. In total, FEMA expects to spend more than $9 million to purchase the properties, Rolleston said.

The properties will be demolished to make way for a “greenway” along the river.

Initially, the city had identified 192 properties it thought might qualify for buyouts in the proposed greenway area. Of that number, 167 owners initially said they would agree to the buyouts.

Jennifer Pratt, the city's development coordinator, on Tuesday emphasized that owners who are not in the FEMA buyout plan and thought they might be will be in the larger buyout program, which will be funded in large part with federal Community Development Block Grant funds.

In total, the city has said it will buy out 1,300 or so properties.

Pratt noted that the CDBG funding for buyouts, which is part of a $517-million disaster grant to the state of Iowa, is expected to be available in the near term, too.

The city also expects to use local-option sales tax revenue to help pay for what FEMA and CDBG grants don't.

FEMA's Rolleston noted that earlier FEMA agreed to spend about $11 million to buy out 40 flood-damaged properties in Iowa City. It will take about $9 million for FEMA to buy out 117 properties in Cedar Rapids.