Linn County Conservation eyes Cedar Rapids schools’ land for wetlands project

CEDAR RAPIDS — Linn County Conservation officials are hopeful that a wetlands restoration project can help reduce erosion and improve water quality near Morgan Creek Park.

County Conservation Deputy Director Daniel Gibbins said the project would use roughly 7 acres of land adjacent to the park currently owned by the Cedar Rapids Community School District, west of Cedar Rapids.

The acreage is part of a larger district-owned plot purchased in 2011 for potential development that has been used for farming. The district intends to donate the land for the wetlands project for free, though the transaction would need school board approval.

“It’s on a part of the property that’s too low and too wet to ever develop anyway, so it doesn’t have a lot of value in that sense,” Gibbins said. But with a restoration project, “We can solve a lot of those issues and stop some of the runoff into Morgan Creek.”

Gibbins said the portion of district property considered for donation has issues with erosion and runoff. Pending board approval, the plan is to use heavy machinery to sculpt the landscape to create a healthy wetland instead.

Wetlands act as a sort of natural sponge, he explained, slowing the flow of water and sediment that otherwise would rush into a creek or other water source. That deceleration allows time for sediment and debris to settle and for related increases in water filtration.

Gibbins said initial site plans call for pools of varying depths at the site, meaning the wetland could take on additional water after heavy rain without flooding.

Preliminary plans also call for additional site development to increase the offerings at Morgan Creek Park. One portion of a pool would be deep enough to support recreational fishing, for example, and a walking trail would loop a portion of the wetland.

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“It’s really a neat project with having the walking trails and the fishing,” Gibbins said. “And we want to have (Americans with Disability-compliant) access so anyone can get down there.”

Cedar Rapids schools’ Director of Operations Chad Schumacher said conversations began years ago about how the district could collaborate with Linn County Conservation to make water quality improvements at the site.

Those conversations gained traction over the past year, he said, and the district ultimately decided it would donate the 7-acre parcel if the county covered the cost of the remediation. In total, that cost is estimated at roughly $500,000 to be paid through a mix of grants and voter — approved county conservation bonds.

“We got together and said, ‘How can we fix this?’, and we came up with this plan,” Schumacher said. “It’s an environmental (improvement project) we’re trying to accomplish together using this land.”

The district will retain the remainder of the land, approximately 27 acres, for potential development. The wetlands project would satisfy the stormwater remediation requirements of new construction, effectively saving the district the cost of doing the work itself.

The Cedar Rapids school board is set to vote on the issue April 28. If approved, Gibbins said, Linn County Conservation would work to finalize site designs this summer and begin construction in late 2025 or early 2026.

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