Council member Karr wants to make sure City Hall is doing latest round of demolitions right

CEDAR RAPIDS - Nobody said tearing down a flood-damaged neighborhood would be a cake walk.

As the city began a next round of demolitions of flood-damaged homes on Monday, council member Don Karr pushed to make sure that the city takes down only those houses in which an owner has actually sold the house to the city or has a “signed legal document” that the owners approves of the demolition.

Karr questioned a decision by city staff to proceed on the demolition of 281 homes because the city has determined that they pose an “imminent threat” to health and safety as set out in the city's nuisance abatement ordinance.

Karr doesn't think all of the homes slated for demolition meet the city standard, and, further, he said he thinks that some of the flood-damaged homes slated for demolition can be renovated. Some homes around the ones coming down have been brought back to life, he said.

In 2009, the city took down a first group of 139 flood-damaged houses that posed the clearest threat to public safety. Those houses were termed too dangerous to enter, and so all the debris from the demolitions had to be treated as asbestos-containing material.

Karr said the City Council on Tuesday will look at prioritizing demolitions to those homes that the city already has bought out or that the owner has a signed legal document approving of the demolition.

At the same time, Karr said the council will take a look at a citizen review panel, which the city created to consider new appraisals of property slated for buyouts.

Karr cited one instance in which an appraiser had raised the pre-flood value of one homeowner from $48,000 to $72,000, but the citizen committee concluded that the earlier value was the correct one.