GOVERNMENT NOTES: E-bikes and scooters return to Cedar Rapids

Electric bikes and scooters are back on the streets of Cedar Rapids.

The city on Saturday launched its micromobility program with Chicago-based vendor Veo, which annually brings a fleet of e-bikes and sit-down and standup scooters to Cedar Rapids.

Cedar Rapids made a number of changes to the program last year, aimed at improving safety:

• ID verification technology checks that all riders are at least age 18.

• Riders will need to take a safety quiz at the start of each season.

• “Idle time” for Veo staff to pick up devices left outside of marked areas is 48 hours.

• Geofencing technology will bar devices from being driven into “special event” areas, as defined by the city’s special events team.

Riders will be able to start group rides for up to four people through one account. Users may use pop-up safety walk-throughs in the app, reminding them to wear helmets, use bike lanes and not ride on sidewalks.

The Veo Voice feature will be implemented in more areas of downtown and core districts. This triggers an audible message from the Veo device reminding users to not ride on sidewalks in core areas.

According to the city, a Veo will focus this season on promptly moving scooters outside designated parking areas after they have been idle for 48 hours. Veo staff will analyze ridership data to identify new areas for dedicated scooter parking in neighborhoods.

To use a device, download the Veo mobile app. It costs $1 to unlock the devices, and fees per minute vary, depending on which device riders use. Designated parking areas are available throughout the riding zone after a ride is completed.

Linn emergency officials like Wolf’s pipeline plan

Linn County emergency management officials told Linn County supervisors last week they have confidence in Wolf Carbon Solutions’ safety plan for its proposed carbon-capture pipeline.

The details of Wolf’s plan weren’t discussed at the meeting, but Wolf representatives assured supervisors they were equipped to respond to any emergency because the company operates a similar pipeline in Canada.

Tom Ulrich, the county’s emergency management specialist, said those reviewing the plan “didn’t feel that there was any smoke and mirrors going on.” He said emergency management personnel were “impressed” with the plan for the pipeline in Calgary.

The county already understands terms such as an emergency planning zone or shelter in place, having dealt safety arrangements for the Duane Arnold nuclear plant near Palo since the 1970s, Ulrich said.

For the regional HAZMAT team, carbon dioxide is a chemical the team hasn’t dealt with, Urich said. But if there’s a leak or a rupture in the pipeline, emergency managers and the HAZMAT team can do modeling to know how much product is in the pipeline and where to shut it off.

“From a sheerly statistics standpoint, for the HAZMAT team, the pipeline is safer to deal with than highway transportation,” Ulrich said.

Wolf is proposing to collect compressed carbon dioxide at ADM plants in Cedar Rapids and Clinton and ship it in a 16-inch underground pipeline to ADM’s sequestration site near Decatur, Ill. The 280-mile project is planned to go through Linn, Cedar, Scott and Clinton counties.

Wolf has applied for a permit with the Iowa Utilities Board, which regulates pipelines carrying natural gas are regulated by the Iowa Utilities Board.

The company has said it will not use eminent domain to gain easements to land needed for the pipeline.

In past meetings with Wolf officials, residents have pressed the company on the project’s safety and the use of eminent domain — often pointing to a 2020 carbon pipeline in Satartia, Miss., that ruptured, hospitalizing 49 people and forcing the evacuation of 300 more.

Patrick Brierly, Wolf’s vice president of engineering, said there’s an emergency planning zone area around the pipeline and a dispersion model reviewed with leadership in the four-county area.

Linn County is still weighing an ordinance governing how close a carbon pipeline can be built to certain locations.

“The county has the power to say where the pipeline can go,” Linn County Supervisor Kirsten Running-Marquardt said. “We, though, are not able to make an ordinance that would outlaw completely the pipeline …

“We have to come up with a good ordinance that balances the safety of our citizens and also working with you all because we don’t want to end up with nothing and have something thrown out” by the Iowa Utilities Board.

C.R. Council signs off on Kingston Village project

The Cedar Rapids City Council last week gave the final OK for a $6.7 million four-story apartment complex in Kingston Village at one of the few vacant spots left in the neighborhood.

The development entity, led by Fred Timko and Gary Rozek, will transform part of a property on Fourth Avenue SW between Second and Third streets SW and also redevelop the commercial building, which now houses ImOn Communications and Kepros Physical Therapy at 218 Fourth Ave. SW.

The building will have 30 units — a mix of studio, one- and two-bedroom units — with first-floor covered parking and walk-up units. Twenty of the units will be rented at market rate.

“This will be buildings number five and six for my development group in Kingston Village,” Timko told the council last June. “With the First and First project underway, there is precious little land left between Fifth Avenue and the interstate.”

The redevelopment of the commercial building will relocate Kepros Physical Therapy so ImOn Communications, which was acquired by Goldman Sachs Asset Management in February, can expand in the first floor of building.

The city will reimburse 100 percent of the incremental property taxes generated by the development — up to a $750,000 in 20 monthly payments.

North Liberty seeks to acquire land for new city park by condemnation

North Liberty will begin the process to acquire land for a new city park by condemnation after negotiations with the landowner were unsuccessful.

The city council last week unanimously approved a resolution authorizing condemnation — eminent domain — of the property.

The city council previously approved plans and allowed the city attorney to begin negotiations to acquire 41 acres above West Penn Street between North Jones Boulevard and Highway 965.

The land is owned by the Meade Family Real Estate Limited Partnership.

The North Side Community Park project is among the initiatives identified in the city’s 2022-24 goals report.

Council member Brent Smith said during the Tuesday that eminent domain isn’t something the city takes lightly.

“There's been a lot of work and reach-outs and communications, and it has not progressed at all,” Smith said. “ … I feel it's moved the council to have to be in this position.”

Gary Streit, a Cedar Rapids attorney representing the Meade family, told the council in November the family does not think the land is a good fit for a park.

He said the land “is some of the most valuable potential commercial development property in the city” that will be turned into non-income-producing property if it becomes parkland.

Iowa City hosting Wednesday listening post on accessibility

Iowa City residents are invited to share their thoughts about accessibility in the city at a Wednesday meeting.

Council members Andrew Dunn and Pauline Taylor and Assistant City Manager Rachel Kilburg will host the listening post from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at the Iowa City Public Library, meeting room A.

The city representatives are looking for input from residents about accessibility of city services, programs and activities. They will report what they hear to the Iowa City Council.

Anyone unable to attend can email comments to ADACoordinator@iowa-city.org.

Voters renew College Community PPEL tax levy

Voters in the College Community School District approved renewing the Physical Plant and Equipment Levy tax last month.

The levy — set to expire in 2024 — was renewed for another 10 years. Approval of the levy does not increase property taxes.

The levy is used to maintain and repair district facilities.

The current levy — 67 cents per $1,000 taxable valuation — has been in place since 1983 and the vote will maintain that rate.

“Through the generous support of our community, we have been able to address the new facility needs related to district growth,” said Angie Morrison, College Community schools’ chief financial officer.

Recent uses of the levy includes buses, maintenance equipment, band instruments, playground equipment, classroom furniture, parking lots, sidewalks, road resurfacing, safety and security equipment and energy efficiency initiatives, according to a news release from the district.

Government Notes is published Mondays and contains updates from area government bodies. Gazette reporters Marissa Payne, Izabela Zaluska and Grace King contribute.