As Cedar Rapids looks to acquire over 20 homes in the Time Check area for flood control system construction, a homeowner has appealed the city’s acquisition. The levee the city’s looking to build is still in the design phase.
While Iowa lawmakers have passed a bill to fix a state error, leaving local governments down millions in expected revenue as they set their budgets for the 2024 fiscal year, Cedar Rapids still plans to invest in key priorities like flood control and economic development.
A condemnation hearing Wednesday provided the first test that city officials and neighbors are looking to as the precedent for how future eminent domain proceedings may pan out for the city’s flood control system.
The Water Resource and Development Act, reauthorized every two years, provides a framework for projects and studies done by the Army Corps of Engineers. The act deals with construction and maintenance of ports, waterways, locks and dams.
A flood gate -- over 11 feet tall and 82 feet long, weighing more than 80,000 pounds -- is being installed to roll across First Avenue E when a flood threatens downtown. A similar gate will be installed later on the avenue on the west bank of the Cedar River.
“You don’t often get the chance to reprogram 130 acres in the middle of your city,” council member Tyler Olson said of the effort to craft a greenway plan to transform the 130-acre space along the west side of the Cedar River.
The city of Cedar Rapids is negotiating a deal to purchase land from Rick and Marsha Stickle for no more than $10 million to build the flood control levee around Cedar Lake.
First Avenue will close between Third Street West and First Street East from 8:30 a.m. Monday through the afternoon for installation of a floodgate as part of the city’s flood control system.
Think Iowa City awarded the first two grants earlier this month as part of the Iowa City Tourism Grant program. Also, the Cedar Rapids City Council approved a shelter rezoning, and major projects are underway for local flood control and a Mount Vernon schools activities complex.
A slice of federal COVID-19 stimulus funds will go toward Cedar Rapids’ efforts to speed up westside flood control and to turn the former Colonial Center into affordable housing.
Cedar Rapids is one step closer to protecting Czech Village from rising Cedar River waters with a massive $27.2 million pump station that will transport rainfall runoff from Czech Village over a levee and into the river.
With Riverside Park closed through next summer to make way for a detention basin as part of the flood control system, some local skaters are frustrated with the wait for a place to skate. The city continues to explore options for temporary equipment.
In a walking tour of Cedar Rapids flood infrastructure with Iowa Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, city officials said they plan to seek $50 million through the DOT’s Bridge Investment Program to fund the reconstruction of the Eighth Avenue bridge.
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