FEMA denies $21 million disaster claim for Sinclair plant

CEDAR RAPIDS - City Hall's hope for what seemed last spring like nearly a sure $36-million in federal disaster payments has been dashed again.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency's regional office in Kansas City, Mo., on Wednesday reported that it had denied the city's appeal of an earlier FEMA decision related to $21 million in possible federal disaster payments tied to the flood-damaged, city-owned former Sinclair meatpacking plant.

FEMA's written denial of the city's appeal follows by about two months a similar appeal denial, that one tied to the City Hall's request for $13.3 million in FEMA disaster funds tied to the city's flood-damaged hydroelectric plant at the base of the 5-in-1 bridge downtown.

The city also has been seeking between $2 million and $3 million for the flood-damaged, city-owned, former Quality Chef plant on Third Street SE in New Bohemia.

Broadly speaking, FEMA's denial of the city's request for funds related to the Sinclair plant is similar to the denial of funds for the hydroelectric plant. In the Sinclair case, FEMA points out that many of the buildings on the site were not in use at the time of the June 2008 flood. Likewise, FEMA has said that the hydroelectric plant had been disabled by an ice storm before the flood.

The city is finalizing a second appeal of the hydroelectric plant decision, continuing its argument that the city intended to renovate the plant when the flood hit.

The city has been seeking FEMA funds for the Sinclair, hydroelectric and Quality Chef plants through a FEMA program that allows for funding of alternative projects when public facilities are destroyed and can't be reused after a disaster.

The city had planned to use the funds for a variety of city projects, including a new downtown parking ramp, the Convention Complex, the NewBo City Market, a new Intermodal Transit Facility, neighborhood centers, a downtown trail loop and street work in the new Medical District.