Not everything known before buyouts offered

Residents of Taft Speedway could not have known about the raising of Taft Speedway and No Name Road when buyouts were originally offered.

The city clerk's minutes of the July 27, 2009, Iowa City Council work session (p. 45) reveal that “the project” to raise Taft Speedway and No Name Road was a new project - one the Iowa City Council had not seen before.

How could the residents of Taft Speedway have known about the levees when initial buyout offers were extended more than a year earlier? By July 27, 2009, many of the Taft Speedway residents had already been involved in rebuilding their homes for more than 11 months. Three residents already had moved back in.

If residents of Taft Speedway were notified of the levees before July 27, 2009, I wish the city officials would produce copies of such a notice.

When I was building my new home on Taft Speedway in 2006, I had to ask for a zoning variance because my garage dormers did not meet city code by 6 inches. I had to pay a fee, notify my neighbors, and place a placard about the variance in my yard. Would a reasonable person be correct in assuming that if the city was going to raise by 8 to 15 feet the street on which you reside that you might receive a written notice to this effect?

James J. White

Iowa City