Demolitions a month away in rural Linn

Linn County expects to hire a firm by month's end to raze 18 rural buildings that were damaged in the flood but did not qualify for buyouts.

Bids are out and demolitions should begin in October. Forty-eight properties - all near the Wapsipinicon or Cedar rivers - qualify, and the county plans to bid the demolitions in two phases as officials settle the details on each property.

The program is different from the voluntary buyout program in which the government buys out the property, demolishes the structure and makes the land forever public.

Some buildings - like cabins on leased land - don't qualify for voluntary buyouts, but the Federal Emergency Management Agency still provides money for demolition.

The program addresses public nuisances, “buildings that are in danger of collapse, or they're a public health nuisance,” said Brita Van Horne, a Linn County building official. “Most of these are structural issues.”

Under this program, the owner retains the land. Some owners who qualify for voluntary buyouts may not accept them because they want to keep the land.

“These people have recreational land that they don't want to sell,” Van Horne said.

The historic Biderman Hotel faces demolition because the owner does not want to lose the land, Van Horne said.

Seventeen properties in Linn County will likely be demolished under the voluntary buyout program, along with more than 1,000 in Cedar Rapids city limits.

Voluntary buyouts in Linn County are not as far along as public nuisance demolitions. Offers will soon go out for those, but the county has not closed on any properties.

“It'll be a bit of time,” Van Horne said.

In Johnson County, six buildings will be demolished and the land retained by the owners. Another 25 or 30 property owners will likely qualify for voluntary buyouts where the government gets the land, said Rick Dvorak, administrator of the Johnson County Planning and Zoning Division.

“We're hoping to sit down next month to start the buyout program,” he said. “Things are falling into place.”

FEMA, the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will share the cost of the buyouts.