Flood plan for Cedar Rapids now closer to Congress

CEDAR RAPIDS - The Army Corps of Engineers' commanding general has approved the Corps' proposed flood-protection system for the Cedar River at Cedar Rapids, completing a nearly two-year Corps study process and 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 Corps Lt. Gen. Robert Van Antwerp “a very important milestone.”

Van Antwerp's approval of the Corps' report on the Cedar Rapids project has now been forwarded to the assistant secretary of the Army for civil works, who coordinates the submittal of the report to the Obama administration and Congress.

Corbett on Thursday said the city has succeeded in working its way through the Corps' feasibility study and approval process, and now the city must work its way through the Congressional funding system.

“Now we can go directly to Congress,” the mayor said. “And it's a lot easier to get support there when you have a plan approved by the Corps.”

The city, he said, will work with the state's congressional delegation to get the Cedar Rapids project placed in Congress's Water Resources Development Act.

But Corbett emphasized that the latest piece of welcome news about the Corps' project for the city only reinforces the need for the city to come up with local funds to contribute to the project.

The City Council has called for a referendum on May 3 to see if voters are willing to extend the city's 1 percent local-option sales tax for 20 years to generate revenue to pay the city's portion of its flood-protection system.

Corbett said Congress funds water-resources projects only once in a while, so it's important for the city to do what it can to get into the congressional bill this year. Lining up local funding can only help Cedar Rapids' chances, he said.

“If we miss this train, it may be a long time before another engine comes along,” Corbett said.

The Corps' proposed $99 million flood-protection system requires the city to come up with 35 percent of the project cost.

The Corps' plan is a no-frills one, which features tall concrete flood walls in the downtown and protects only most of the east side of the river.

The city's preferred plan, with an estimated price tag of $375 million, would protect both sides of the river and use more expensive, more attractive removable flood walls in the downtown and at Czech Village. Anything over and above the Corps' plan will require local and state funds.

The city also is seeking help from the Iowa Legislature, asking it to steer the growth in state sales tax collected in Cedar Rapids and Linn County toward the flood-protection project.

In his letter to Corbett, the Rock Island District office's McGinley said the Corps' final action on the Cedar Rapids project does not equate to official support from the Obama administration or ensure that federal funding for the project will be made available.