Cedar Rapids must reapply for state tourism grant to revitalize Cedar Lake

CEDAR RAPIDS — A state panel on Thursday asked the City of Cedar Rapids to reapply for grant funding to support the citizen-led ConnectCR project to revitalize Cedar Lake and terminated its existing $500,000 award, but city officials say the decision won’t stop the transformative endeavor from moving forward.

The city had requested the Enhance Iowa board amend its contract supporting phase one of the project to re-imagine the lake just north of downtown and construct a pedestrian-bike bridge spanning the Cedar River to the south.

In 2020, the board awarded a $500,000 Community Attraction and Tourism grant to help the $12.5 million Cedar Lake revitalization portion of the overall $20 million project.

The project is underway and keeping to its planned timeline of completion in 2025. But the city was looking to amend its agreement with the board to support a narrower scope — aspects of the project that could be finished by the Dec. 31, 2023 deadline stipulated in the award.

Assistant Community Development Director Adam Lindenlaub told the board those elements included $2.7 million improvements to approximately 1,200 feet of the shoreline of Cedar Lake by extending the bank to make room for a new trail. The $900,000 paved trail will be about 2,650 feet long and 12 feet wide, creating a continuous trail loop that doesn’t interact with vehicular traffic.

So far, Lindenlaub said engineering and design work has been underway to take the elements created by citizens and bring them into reality. Cedar Rapids contracted with Canadian firm WSP USA for over $1.2 million to provide technical designs and engineering for new amenities at Cedar Lake, the pedestrian bridge and the connecting trails.

In terms of construction, Lindenlaub said the city has made some improvements to the causeway bridge for the trail.

As of June, he said the city has expended almost $1.1 million on Cedar Lake.

Lindenlaub said the city is working with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources on Cedar Lake improvements and with the Army Corps of Engineers on flood control work around the lake with the construction of a levee on the west side.

Based on discussions with those agencies, the first phase of the project is now set to be bid in spring 2023, so the city needed to extend its timeline to factor in how to structure improvements such as potential dredging of the lake.

The board decided it would be best for Cedar Rapids to reapply with the refined project scope rather than amend the existing agreement. Board members indicated Cedar Rapids might be better positioned by reapplying, as there will be more money to give to communities who apply by the Jan. 15, 2023 deadline than there was in 2020.

“I don’t think there is any question this is an invaluable, necessary project for Cedar Rapids that we should have money in,” said board member Kyle Carter. “We are just in this weird bind as it stands on how to go about the process of doing that.”

Some board members took issue with the proposed scope of the project Cedar Rapids asked the board to support. They indicated support for the whole project, but were less enticed by the request to help fund this narrow component of it.

Cedar Lake’s transformation will add a boardwalk extending over the 120-acre lake and handicap-accessible piers. Project plans also involve preserving wetlands on the north shore, installing a fishing jetty, adding paddle sport launch locations, floating islands and a nature-based playground.

“I don’t think it would score well if we had to re-evaluate it,” board member Lisa Hein said of the narrower project. “To me, it’s the whole package.”

Community Development Director Jennifer Pratt said those elements won’t be ready until after 2023, which is why the city sought support specifically for the shoreline and trail improvements.

With other funds locked in from Linn County, the Hall-Perrine Foundation and other private donors that do not go toward specific elements of the project, Pratt said there were no concerns about the project’s ability to move forward. The amendment request was intended to use the CAT funds efficiently.

Several board members were sympathetic to the delays involved when collaborating with other government agencies.

“Perhaps this application came in a little early in retrospect,” board member Pat Deignan said, “ … but some things are beyond their control.”

City Council member Dale Todd, who has long championed the effort, said ConnectCR is a complicated project with many moving parts. Having to reapply will fit the city’s timeline better, he said, as the grant would then cover the completion of the project.

“It fits perfectly with our vision and our timeline,” Todd said.

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