City Council debates fate of historic Czech Village homes

Local planning consultant Richard Luther and Charles Jones, a young Iowa City developer, were back in front of the City Council this week making their long-shot case for saving many of the 90-plus, flood-hit homes next the Czech Village commercial district.

Their late plea directly to the City Council is coming because of the inability of Luther and Jones to make their case with the city's professional staff and as the city's push to demolish flood-damaged homes is rushing ahead before winter and as a federal funding deadline nears.

City Council member Pat Shey, who represents council District 3 that includes the Czech Village area, this week said he, for one, was “intrigued” by the Luther-and-Jones plan to try to save homes of historic value - a status open to debate for many of the homes.

“It is a great thing for someone to bring up, and say, ‘Why not?,'” Shey said.

Shey said he'd like to compare the costs of renovating existing homes and building new ones, and he said he also would like to discuss how vital it is for the Czech Village commercial district to have homes, old and new, where they are now even if the property is in the 100-year flood plain.

Luther, a former development manager in the city's Community Development Department, and Jones say 13 of 93 homes between A and C streets SW now have individual historic status while more than 50 others slated for buyout and demolition could have if the city allows volunteers to alter some of the changes that owners in the course of history have made to the original homes, changes that now disqualify the homes for historic status.

Luther and Jones want the city to delay demolitions in this spot for 60 days so vinyl siding and certain porches and additions can be removed. Then they will apply to have the entire neighborhood qualify as a historic residential district, a designation that state and federal historic preservation officials have just denied. If the designation is achieved, the developer can work to make a case to allow the houses to be renovated in place, in the 100-year flood plain, with the developer able to access historic tax credits to help pay for the renovations.

All of this runs counter to other City Hall initiatives aimed at not spending public tax dollars to renovate homes in spots most susceptible to flooding.

For his part, west-side City Council member Justin Shields said this week that he is far less impressed with pitches to the council from a developer and a planning consultant than he would be from flood victims who actually own the homes.

“I would rather have individuals coming to talk to us, saying, ‘I want my house back. I think it can be rebuilt,'” Shields said.

Shields said, no doubt, there is historic value in some homes, but he wondered about the practice tearing off what the owners of the houses had chosen to add to the homes over time so the homes now might qualify as historic. He also said he it didn't make sense to try to save a “hodgepodge” of homes in a several-block area that will remain “with nothing else around them.”

At-large City Council member Chuck Swore said this week that he personally has not gotten any “input” about the flood-hit homes at Czech Village, now 28 months after the 2008 flood, from anyone other than Luther and Jones.

“I'm not opposed to listening to what they think they can accomplish,” Swore said. “But I think they need to have a reality check. There are just times, between the two of them, I get the distinct feeling that they think they can accomplish even more than is reasonably expected.

“I wish them well. But don't put us in a position to impact what we are trying to get done - to clean up the city as legitimately as possible. Some of those houses can't be saved. Let's get rid of those.”

City Council member Kris Gulick said this week he needs to get more information about the status of the homes near Czech Village. At the same time, though, he noted that winter “is fast approaching” and the City Council has goals and funding deadlines in place to buy out and take down homes the city concludes are not salvageable.

Mayor Ron Corbett said this week that he has made it clear for months that he doesn't favor the city going into a third winter with hundreds of flood-damaged homes still standing.

As for the Luther-and-Jones idea, Corbett said the city has done its best to remove property in the 100-year flood plain to get people out of harm's way. Perhaps, some of the homes near Czech Village can be moved, but most will need to be demolished, he said.

“There's a big difference between what a developer thinks people want and what people actually want,” Corbett added. “Sad as it may be to lose some of your historic structures, we had a flood and that happens.”

At-large City Council member Tom Podzimek said this week that he has come to see himself on the periphery of what he suggests is a Corbett-powered council.

From his view, the council has been more focused on ordinances involving chickens, cats and dogs than anything related to historic preservation.

Greg Eyerly, the city's flood-recovery director, on Thursday provided a detailed explanation of the position of the city's professional staff related to the homes next to Czech Village, a position he said some on the City Council were not were not aware of in its entirely.

Eyerly said the city has spent the last 17 months working on historical issues related to the Czech Village commercial district and the homes next to it. Two consultants conducted surveys and have concluded that the residential neighborhood as a whole doesn't qualify for eligibility on the National Register of Historic Places, he said.

“Loss of integrity on the vast majority of houses, before the flood of 2008, was too great to warrant eligibility,” Eyerly stated, quoting from a report by consultant Louis Berger Group Inc. Louis Berger, he said, has identified 21 properties (13 between A and C streets SW) as potentially eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Some of those feature an architecture found in all sectors of the city and some an architecture from the city's early settlement period, he said, quoting the Louis Berger findings.

Eyerly said the State Historic Preservation Office and the Federal Emergency Management Agency's historic preservation officer have both endorsed the Louis Berger conclusions, though he said the city's “volunteer” Historic Preservation Commission has not.

Eyerly said the position of the city's professional staff - consultant Luther and developer Jones disagree and point to a special exception that is possible for homes with historic standing - is that the rehabilitation of homes in the 100-year flood plain is prohibited if the city uses federal dollars, as it is doing, to buy out homes.