Government Notes: Permanent site for Boys & Girls club advances

New Boys & Girls Club of the Corridor building advances

The Cedar Rapids City Council gave the green light last week for the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Corridor to rezone property where the organization is building a permanent location in Cedar Rapids.

The group hasn’t had a stand-alone building since the flood of 2008 and has operated out of various locations throughout the city, including the First Congregational United Church of Christ, at the corner of 17th Street and Washington Avenue SE in Wellington Heights.

The property at 1602 Washington Ave. SE will be rezoned from single-family to public institutional, pending a second and possible third consideration of the ordinance, to make way for the new 16,800 square-foot facility.

The club estimates the new building will boost capacity to serve an additional 300 children and teens, nearly doubling the number of youth currently served by the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Corridor.

Previously shared plans call for the first floor of the building to contain a gymnasium, cafeteria, game room, an education center and a STEM lab. The second floor will have a teen center, teaching kitchen, an art room and a music room with a DJ booth.

NewBo mini-roundabout in the works

Peosta-based Midwest Concrete Inc. was awarded a $1.42 million contract last week to build a mini-roundabout at the intersection of 12th Avenue SE and Second Street SE.

The Cedar Rapids City Council voted to accept the bids and award the contract to Midwest Concrete among eight bidders. The bids ranged from $1.42 to $1.79 million.

Once built, the roundabout will be similar to the ones on Johnson Avenue and Wiley Boulevard NW and Johnson Avenue and Jacolyn Drive NW, Rob Davis, city flood control program manager, has said. A mini-roundabout is more compact than a standard roundabout but works the same for drivers.

This work will be done in conjunction with work to install floodgates on the 12th Avenue Bridge, a project that is closing the bridge through much of next summer.

Linn expects to receive grants for disaster recovery

Linn County is expected to receive about 80 percent of the approximately $57.6 million in disaster recovery funding awarded to the state through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development following the August 2020 derecho.

In Marion, the funds would be used to support both owner-occupied and multifamily housing projects that support low- to moderate- income individuals and families.

City staff will contact applicants for projects to discuss the proposal. Several steps will need to be completed before the end of the year, including a public hearing, obtaining City Council approval and submitting the application to the state.

For Marion and other Linn County communities outside Cedar Rapids, applications will be submitted through the East Central Iowa Council of Governments. According to the approved action plan for the program, the breakdown of the funds within Linn County are as follows for housing:

Iowa City listening post to be held

The city of Iowa City is holding a community listening post for residents to come speak with city leaders.

The listening post will be held at 5:30 to 7 p.m. Monday at Pheasant Ridge Neighborhood Center, 2651 Roberts Road.

Council listening posts are an opportunity for residents to engage with council members in an informal setting. Two council members attend a listening post and report back to the rest of council about what they heard from residents. Council members Pauline Taylor and John Thomas are scheduled to attend this listening post.

Residents are encouraged to stop by and discuss any issue on their minds. No formal agenda or presentation is planned.

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