FEMA pays city the cost to replace the Time Check Rec Center; city intends to use a school modular classroom this summer to serve the neighborhood

Two pieces of news on the flood-damaged Time Check Recreation Center:

At noon Tuesday, the office of Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, announced that the Federal Emergency Management will pay the city $1,638,155, which is the amount FEMA has determined is the cost to replace the building. Harkin's office noted that “biohazardous conditions within the facility” at the time of the FEMA inspection convinced the agency that the flood-damaged building could not be renovated.

Also this week, the City Council is expected to approve an agreement with the Cedar Rapids Community Schools, which will let the city use the school district's existing modular classroom at Harrison Elementary School as a community resource center from June 15 through Aug. 14. The resource center will serve as a temporary neighborhood center to serve some of the functions that the Time Check Recreation Center did.