Corps general OK’s plans for Cedar Rapids flood protection

The Army Corps of Engineers' commanding general and chief of engineers has approved the Corps' proposed flood-protection system for the Cedar River at Cedar Rapids, making the project eligible for Congressional funding.

In a letter to Mayor Ron Corbett, Col. Shawn McGinley, the commander of the Corps' Rock Island District office, called the step by the Corps' Lt. Gen. Robert Van Antwerp “a very important milestone.”

Van Antwerp's approval and the Corps' report on the Cedar Rapids project has now been forwarded to the assistant secretary of the army for civil works.

In his letter to Corbett, McGinley said Van Antwerp's action does not equate to official support from the Obama administration for the Cedar Rapids flood-protection project or ensure that federal funding for the project will be made available.

“(But) it is a very important milestone and does make the project eligible for inclusion in a Water Resources Development Act that could lead to Congressional authorization to construct the project,” McGinley states.

Corbett and the City Council have expressed support for the Corps' recommendation in what the city sees as a first step in a more-complete flood-protection plan for the city.

The Corps' $99-million project protects most of the east side of Cedar River but none of the west side.

The city's “preferred” plan has a price tag of $375 million and also would protect the west side of the river and parts of the east side of the river that the Corps' plan will not. The added expense of the city's plan also comes, in part, because it calls for more expensive “removable” flood walls in the downtown and at Czech Village rather than a permanent concrete wall downtown.

The City Council has decided on a May 3 referendum to see if voters will extend the city's 1-percent local-option sales tax for 20 years to help pay the additional cost for the city's preferred flood-protection plan. The city also is asking the Iowa Legislature to steer the growth in state sales collected here to the project.

Mayor Corbett has said Congress will be working on a new Water Resources Development Act in the months ahead and he said he wants the referendum on May 3 to show Congress that Cedar Rapids is trying to raise local funds for the city's flood-protection system.

The Corps' east-side-only plan requires a local match of 35 percent of the cost of that part of the project.