Army Corps, Cedar Rapids reach deal on flood protection for Quaker

CEDAR RAPIDS - The City Council this week is set to sign an agreement with the Army Corps of Engineers so non-Corps funds used to build a flood wall to protect Quaker Co. and the area between B Avenue NE and Cedar Lake will count as part of the city's 35-percent obligation for the proposed $100-million Corps project.

The proposed flood wall in the area of Quaker Co. just north of downtown likely will be the first piece of flood protection for the city.

City officials and the Corps began working on the agreement in the last couple months so the city could provide protection to the area around Quaker in the near term and not have to wait for funding of the entire proposed $100-million Corps project.

Quaker had been contemplating its own flood-protection system, and the city wanted to make sure it was built to Corps standards. That way, too, the city and Corps would continue to be able to keep the substantial value of the Quaker plant in the Corps' crucial benefit-cost ratio. The Corps can't recommend flood-protection projects in which the cost to build the project exceeds the value of the property protected. And losing Quaker from the calculation raised the possibility that costs might exceed benefits, city officials have said.

Last month, the City Council asked the Iowa Department of Economic Development to allow the city to shift $9 million in federal disaster funds to the flood-wall project, funds that earlier had been allocated to raise the elevation of flood-prone Otis Road SE.

The city believes such disaster funds can be used as local-match dollars to satisfy requirements for Corps construction projects.

The city also is assembling funds from a variety of sources to build an outdoor riverfront amphitheater on the west side of Cedar River. The amphitheater will be designed as part of the city's flood-protection system as well.