Iowa City Council votes for controversial levee

Iowa City is moving forward with three levees to protect the city against flooding, including one met with protests by several residents who will be on its “wet” side.

The City Council Tuesday night unanimously approved three resolutions accepting $15.7 million in federal Community Development Block Grant money for two levees in south Iowa City and another on the north side of town, all in areas that flooded in 2008.

It's the latter one, along the Iowa River north of City Park, that drew criticism from people whose homes on Taft Speedway would be between it and the river.

“Why are some residents more equal than others?” said Wally Taylor, an attorney representing some of the Taft Speedway land owners.

The levee would be created by elevating Taft Speedway and No Name Road up to 10 feet high. That would protect access to the Peninsula neighborhood and 92 condominium units in the Idyllwild neighborhood, which the city says has a property tax value of up to $22 million.

It also would put on the river side of the levee the nine homes remaining on Taft Speedway. Owners were warned of that possibility when the city first offered federal buyouts for the flood-damaged homes, a situation that also has played out in Cedar Rapids. The owners of three homes and a vacant lot took buyouts.

Joel Wilcox, who lives on Taft Speedway, said he didn't ask the government for help after the 2008 flood because of mitigation efforts he took after the 1993 flood.

“It's starting to feel like the buyout program is being used to bully people,” he said.

Idyllwild homeowners were ineligible for buyouts even though many of them wanted one. Idyllwild was classified as one property because of its condo association, and most of the land is outside the 100-year floodplain.

“This levee would be a tremendous relief” to Idyllwild, said Mike Crawford, who lives there and sits on the association's board.

Several City Council members said the decision was a difficult one but they ultimately believed that the levee was needed to protect the area.

“I'm going to be very upset, but I have to support the levee,” Connie Champion said.

Besides protecting the area behind it, the Taft Speedway levee also would reduce water levels during floods. That's according to preliminary test results from a University of Iowa model that incorporates all Iowa City, Coralville and UI flood-mitigation projects under considerations.

With the levee in place, the water would be 4 inches lower in a 100-year flood and 6 ½ inches lower in a 500-year flood at the midpoint on Taft Avenue, said Rick Fosse, the city's public works director. Similar drops would be seen upstream in the Parkview Terrace neighborhood, which also saw significant flooding two years ago.

The proposed elevation of Park Road bridge and Dubuque Street near Taft Speedway are part of the projections.

Each of the two levees on the south side of town would increase water levels just upstream by three-quarters of an inch in a 100-year flood and 2 ¾ inches in a 500-year flood.

One levee would run along the west side of the Iowa River between McCollister Boulevard and the CRANDIC railroad tracks, protecting 160 homes in Baculis and Thatcher mobile home parks and 20 businesses on Commercial Court.

Another would be just to the north on the other side of the river as a defense for Gilbert Street and surrounding businesses.

The levees are estimated to cost nearly $20 million in all, making the city responsible for $4.3 million. Design work is still needed and those costs could be reduced.