2 Cedar Rapids builders sound eleventh hour alarm on ‘feel good’ topsoil plan

CEDAR RAPIDS - Two builders want to pump the brakes on what they call nothing more than a 'feel good” topsoil rule, which has been more than a year in the making in Cedar Rapids.

Randy Dostal, of Thomas Dostal Developers, and Drew Retz, vice president of Jerry's Homes and a past president of the Homebuilders Association of Iowa, aren't buying the plan city officials say is going to improve soil quality and stormwater infiltration by requiring an average 4 inches of topsoil remain post-construction. They also dismiss that peers in a builders' council helped create and signed off on the plan.

'We didn't have a choice really; it was under duress,” Dostal said, during an interview at his home office last week. 'We don't have a compaction problem ... This is just feel good stuff.”

Dostal and Retz, who successfully lobbied to set aside a similar statewide topsoil rule in 2015, say Cedar Rapids' topsoil plan is unnecessary, based on a false premise, will be 'a nightmare” to follow, and could be counterproductive on several fronts.

The topsoil rule is expected to go for final approval when the City Council meets at noon on Tuesday. No one spoke during a Nov. 15 public hearing before the first vote, which saw the ordinance unanimously approved.

TEST RESULTS

City officials say - and third party tests show - lawns around town have a high concentration of clay subsurface and are densely compacted. They say it blocks stormwater absorption leading to runoff, which contributes to flash flooding and water pollution, and hampers lawn quality because grass and plants can't take root.

Cedar Rapids hired Des Moines-based Team Services to test soil at 26 randomly selected sites developed by nine different builders. The tests revealed lawns had an average 69 percent clay content and 97 percent were compacted.

Cory Denham, manager at Team Services, said they provided data based on the tests and locations the city ordered, without any qualitative analysis.

'All we did was provide the results,” Denham said.

Dostal conducted his own tests, which he said contrasts the findings.

He bought a penetrometer, a stainless steel probe with a gauge by the handle that reveals the compaction level based on the pressure used to push the probe into the ground. The results showed no compaction at several spots in lots last week, and he said his additional tests show the compaction issue is overstated, he said.

Dostal also conducted a side-by-side comparison of two lawns - both started in May - one using standard practice and another following the city-proposed plan, he said. Using methods allowed under the proposed new rule, Dostal spread a 66-33 black dirt-to-compost mix to 4 inches deep, and planted grass seed over top. For the standard lawn, he spread black dirt and laid sod overtop. He maintained both through the summer.

During a visit to the site last week, the dirt-compost mix side had patchy grass including a spot with puddling, while the control side had thick full grass. Dostal added the compost-dirt mix lawn cost $7,485 compared to the $2,400 per lot he spends normally to grade and sod,

Joe Horaney, a spokesman for the Cedar Rapids Linn County Solid Waste Agency said the recommended way to add compost for the goal of growing grass is to first plant the grass seed directly into topsoil and then add a quarter- to half-inch layer of compost after the seed has been planted.

'The grass seed will root stronger with topsoil,” he said. 'After the grass establishes and begins to grow, add 2 inches of compost directly on the grass and till it in to build up absorption levels.”

Agreeing to disagree

The proposed Cedar Rapids topsoil ordinance provides nine methods to preserve, stockpile and restore topsoil to an average depth of 4 inches. Cedar Rapids officials have said they expect neighboring communities to adopt similar plans so there is a level playing field.

Dostal and Kern said they favor an approach of planting grass with longer roots to reduce compaction, installing neighborhood detention basins to control stormwater, and biannual aeration of lawns to help with both aesthetics and stormwater control.

The argument by Dostal and Retz hasn't gained traction with the city or peers.

Cara Matteson, the city's stormwater coordinator, said the goal of the topsoil rule is to address issues on a micro-level.

'We wanted to not just look on a big scale, but on the home lot, so people could have healthy lawns,” Matteson said. 'We wanted to look at this site by site.”

The city worked with a builders' council for more than a year to find a middle ground. City leaders insisted an ordinance was happening, but dialed back a requirement of 8 inches of topsoil, reworded the rule for topsoil depth from 'minimum” to 'average,” added flexibility in approved methods, and exempted developments through preliminary platting by Jan. 1 when the rule takes affect, if approved, based on feedback from developers.

'There was plenty of agreeing to disagree from day one, and at the end of the day, too, but what was settled upon was something the development community, as well as the city, could live with and move forward with,” said Dustin Kern, a key voice among developers in creating the plan. 'It appeared something was going to happen regardless of what we said, but if they were going to do it without taking us into consideration, something would have been approved in spring 2016.”

cost of the ordinance

Kern called the plan a step in the right direction, particularly for greener grass, but remains unconvinced it is going to combat flash flooding. He added the new rules may slow development on land where topsoil is lacking because it will significantly add to the costs.

Retz takes it a step further, suggesting it is going to make homes unaffordable and discourage development.

'The number of new developments in Cedar Rapids will decline and the number of permits will decline,” Retz said,

Kyle Skogman, of Skogman Homes, said many builders would, if given the choice, prefer not to have the extra regulations, but he also agrees with the city assessment issues were present that needed to be addressed. He called the final version a 'good plan.”

'I think a number of us agreed there were compaction issues, but in fairness to Drew and Randy, we didn't get enough information on these 20-30 samples the city took,” Skogman said.

Scott Olson, a member of the Cedar Rapids City Council and a commercial developer, guided the topsoil policy through his infrastructure committee - a subcommittee of city council. He said he's heard from Dostal and Retz, who've steadily objected throughout the process. He was not swayed by Dostal's findings noting he is not a 'qualified tester.”

'These are the two outliers,” Olson said. 'They didn't want to do anything.”

Olson said he anticipates the rule is going to move forward, and he is 'pretty confident the direction we reached is going to work.”

l Comments: (319) 339-3177; brian.morelli@thegazette.com