One man staying as neighboring Coralville homes come down

In Mark Brown's case, one man may be an island.

His home at 723 Edgewater Dr. in Coralville soon may be the last primary residence left in the small neighborhood nestled, as its name suggests, on the edge of the Iowa River, south of Interstate 80.

All 27 properties in the neighborhood were damaged in last year's flood. The city already owned eight of them and offered the rest of the homeowners buyouts. But Brown turned them down, even as city officials say they expect to purchase and demolish the rest in the coming months.

One other person told The Gazette he, too, now plans to reject a buyout offer. John Sales owns three homes on Edgewater and said he has decided to keep one as a secondary residence.

His primary home will remain on Seventh Street in Coralville, so it appears Brown's will be the only regularly occupied home on Edgewater Drive.

“I'm 56, and I guess I'm going to ... take my chances,” Brown said.

The neighborhood is in the river's floodway, where floodwater likely is to be deepest and fastest.

The city several years ago began buying homes as they went up for sale, with the goal of removing them from the floodway, City Administrator Kelly Hayworth said. The flood gave the city a chance to get more of them, although Hayworth said he wishes it wouldn't have happened that way.

“People lost a lot of their personal belongings, and it's a really tragic way for somebody to lose their home,” he said.

Edgewater Drive is on the edge of the Iowa River Landing, a retail-commercial-entertainment district that the city wants to continue to be developed.

The federal buyout process requires that purchased properties become green space. Hayworth said city officials will wait until demolitions are finished before deciding what to do with the land, but said adding trails is one possibility.

Flood-prevention measures also will be installed, including a pump station, a flood wall and possibly raising Edgewater Drive as a buffer for the rest of the Iowa River Landing, Hayworth said.

The neighborhood is virtually deserted. Many lawns have weeds reaching several feet high. That makes it hard to see some of the homes, but warped siding and collapsed walls peek through. “No trespassing” signs are common.

The river that caused all the damage is what residents loved most about the area.

“Do you have fox and eagles in your backyard?” Brown asked.

There also was the relative seclusion and friendly neighbors. Ball fields used to be across the street. Years ago, a shallow pond became an ice-skating rink in the winter.

Some of the homeowners accepting buyouts did so reluctantly. Charlotte Williams lived at 713 Edgewater Dr. for about 20 years and would not have sold if the flood had not, as she said, totaled it. “When the ballpark was there, I used to go and watch them play ball,” said Williams, 82, who now lives in a retirement community in Iowa City. “The neighbors were really nice. It was just a nice area.”

Sales, 79, is taking buyouts on the two properties he owned before the flood but bought his neighbor's place at 823 Edgewood Dr., which is structurally sound. He and his wife, Joyce, lived on Edgewater for 40 years. “My family and my friends, we just loved that place down there,” he said.

Brown has lived in his home for 38 years. He said the road occasionally flooded, but the only time before last year his house took on water was in 1993. After that flood, he raised it nearly 5 feet and took other measures to prevent being swamped.

His basement filled up last year, but the only water in his home above ground was 6 inches in the garage.

He's not scared of being caught between a levee and the river. He has a roommate and already has holiday plans for his house. “Wait for my Christmas decorations,” he said.

He plans to sync music with lights on his house. The equipment is bought.

And he won't have to worry about annoying his neighbors.