Cedar Rapids signs off on $27.2 million Czech Village flood control project

Pump station with detention basin part of permanent flood protection

CEDAR RAPIDS — The city of Cedar Rapids is one step closer to protecting Czech Village from rising Cedar River waters.

The Cedar Rapids City Council on Tuesday approved plans for a massive $27.2 million pump station, as well as a detention basin and a relocated Riverside Park. The plans are part of the city’s $750 million permanent flood control system.

The city opted to build a pump station with a detention basin, which stores stormwater peak flows, instead of a pump station without one for several reasons.

Having a detention pond allows the pump station to be smaller, saving the city in long-term operations and maintenance costs, said Rob Davis, Cedar Rapids’ Flood Control System program manager. The initial cost of building the smaller pump station also is an estimated $5.5 to $6 million less.

In addition to concerns with the initial cost and long-term operation and maintenance of equipment, Davis said there were concerns with size and footprint for the station given available land at the National Czech & Slovak Museum and Library.

This option also necessitated the construction of a refreshed Riverside Park and skatepark. The playground and skate park amenities will be relocated and rebuilt closer to C Street SW.

Davis said the pump station is designed to pump rainfall runoff from Czech Village over a levee and into the river.

The pump station — which will be the city’s largest — will have four 36,353 gallon per minute pumps. Currently, the Lot 44 pump station is the largest and has three 12,000 gallon pumps.

“This pump station is four times the size of the largest pump station we have today, so this is a big pump station,” Davis said.

Construction is slated to begin by Jan. 9, 2023 and wrap up by June 30, 2024.

Skate park will be complete in 2023

A trail will be built along a flood wall that continues north of 12th Avenue SW. The flood control system will stop short of the Ingredion flood wall and serve the relocated Riverside Park, Davis said.

The $1.34 million skate park will have 26 elements, benches, lighting, access walks, seeding and canopy trees. It will be the same size as the one that was built in 1999.

Completion dates depend on whether the detention basin contractor can perform some advance grading for the skate park, Davis said.

If the contractor is able, Davis said the park will be 25 percent complete by May 23 and substantially complete by July 14. If not, it will be 25 percent complete by June 2 and substantially complete by July 26. Work already is underway. The park will be complete with trees by Oct. 31, 2023.

The cost opinion of the detention basin, park and playground are $3.8 million, Davis said.

The skate park is concrete so it can be floodable, Davis said, but there would have to be a lot of water to get into the park area because the pump station is equipped with a spare pump and backup generator.

Council member Ashley Vanorny said she appreciated city staff’s engagement with the skate community on the project to incorporate feedback on the design of the facility. Skateboarding is a sport for all ages, she said.

“While we have those parameters because the funding is (state) flood control money, we’ve been very responsive to them, making sure that the design is in the layout they desire, keeping the features from the old park that they’ve desired,” Vanorny said.

Quaker Oats flood wall

The council also approved the final change order for the Quaker Oats flood wall for $598,814.99 and passed a resolution accepting the project.

The original contract amount was $14.45 million. The final contract amount came in at $17.4 million.

Finance Director Casey Drew said the project began in August 2018 and was built over four construction seasons. There were 410 weekly meetings to discuss the project, he said.

“Throughout this whole process, one of the goals was making sure that we didn’t disrupt the operations of Quaker Oats during this entire time, as it was kind of up against their parking area, and we were very successful in making that happen,” Drew said.

Paving for Progress project

The council approved plans for an estimated nearly $2.4 million project to reconstruct 32nd Street NE from Carlisle Street through Oakland Road NE.

The project includes pavement reconstruction, sidewalk infill, water main extension, storm and sanitary sewer improvements and traffic signal replacement on Oakland Road, said Doug Wilson, program manager of Paving for Progress, the city’s street-repair program funded by the 1-cent local-option sales tax.

Staff anticipate construction will start next spring and wrap up in fall 2023.

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