Iowa City flood victims want buyout properties left alone for now

IOWA CITY - A community garden on bought out flood property in Iowa City?

No thanks, residents of the Parkveiw Terrace Neighborhood said this week.

They got wind of that possibility and held an informal meeting with a few city officials Wednesday night. About 50 people attended, and the consensus was that they wanted peace and quiet for now, Mary Sturm, who hosted the meeting at her home on Eastmoor Drive, told me Thursday.

"We are really hoping that what we can do is just level these lots, till them up, plant some grass seed, and let's just have some mowed grass for a couple of years," she said.

Mike Moran, the city's acting parks and recreation director, said the message from the neighbors was received.

"And it makes sense because why go in there and change things and then have the neighborhood change again because more houses come down or something," he said.

Parkview Terrace was one of two Iowa City residential areas along the Iowa River to get hit hard by last year's flood. Nearly 100 homes in all may be bought out, with the majority of them in Parkview Terrace.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency requires the purchased land to be cleared and left as green space.

Moran said the city wants to add a secondary access to City Park through the neighborhood, but other than that, the plans are wide open. Ideas include dong some plantings to help buffer the riverfront and maybe connect to a nearby trail.

I'll have a story about this in an upcoming issue of The Gazette.