Homes on piers suggested in Cedar Rapids flood-prone core neighborhoods

If a new home were built outside the 100-year flood plain but in a flood-prone core neighborhood, would anyone buy it? What if it were built above harm's way?

Local builder Randy Dostal and local architect Jim Novak, unbeknown to each other, have come to embrace a novelty to the Cedar Rapids housing market. They each propose building homes - and Dostal says even storefronts - on pilings or piers, rather than on raised foundations.

“It's not weird in coastal areas,” said Dostal, owner of Thomas Dostal Developers Inc. and a board member with the Cedar Rapids Renaissance Group. The latter is a non-profit whose mission is to build residential housing in flood-damaged neighborhoods. Hurricanes, he said, aren't so different from floods.

Novak, founder and principal of Novak Design Group, said pier-built construction can elevate a home above flood danger, allow homes to be built closer to the river and get them up in the air for better views of the river - levee or no levee.

Dostal and Novak also talk about the need to build affordable homes, and both have concepts that center around pier-built design to accomplish that.

First, though, the city's zoning ordinance would have to change to allow pier-built housing, at least in flood-prone areas. City Council member Chuck Swore said the idea has merit.

Interestingly, it is not the city's building code, but rather the zoning ordinance that prohibits such construction in Cedar Rapids, said Matthew Widner, the city's chief building official. Widner believes pier-built homes are currently prohibited on aesthetic grounds, not for engineering reasons, and he will ask the City Council to change the ordinance.

Concrete piers placed below the frost line, said Dostal, can provide the same support as a traditional foundation but more cost-effectively. Cost is important when building in the city's core neighborhoods, he said. Floors can be insulated to keep out cold and keep in heat, while siding can cover the openings between piers so houses blend in with the rest of the neighborhood, he said.

Julie Tallman, development regulations specialist with Iowa City, notes that neither Iowa City nor the international building code has language like Cedar Rapids' zoning code, which requires “a continuous frost-protected perimeter footing or foundation” around a home. What is required in Iowa City is the proper engineering of piers before the city will approve such construction, Tallman said.

Architect Novak calls his river's edge housing affordable, sensible and creative at a time when people are turning away from bigger suburban-style housing and toward smaller, higher quality housing. Such an option might help keep and attract young people, he said.

In one of his concepts, he uses an elevated walkway to tie together a “village” of four small, two-story homes, with each home on its own single pier. He envisions a hundred or so units, for instance, in the New Bohemia area of town, site of an emerging arts and entertainment district. A similar collection of houses might go up across the river at Czech Village or anywhere along the river, he said.

“The buildings were sort of inspired by bird houses, where they pop up in the air, and here you are, living 12 to 14 feet above ground,” Novak said. “So that affords you a view over the dike, looking back toward downtown or looking at the river.”

At 4 p.m. Thursday at City Hall, city officials will hold an informational meeting for builders and developers to discuss a third round of new-home construction aimed at replacing housing stock lost in the 2008 flood. The program comes with attractive federal incentives for builders. The third round will be targeted at the city's flood-affected core neighborhoods. Rounds 1 and 2 have provided financial backing for 438 residential units, and the third round will support the construction of 235 more.

Dostal is hoping his idea of pier-built housing might find some takers.

“It will be driven by the market,” Dostal said of pier-built housing. “If the market in Cedar Rapids accepts it, it could go gangbusters. If not, at least we gave it a shot.”

If a new home were built outside the 100-year flood plain but in a flood-prone core neighborhood, would anyone buy it? What if it were built above harm's way?

Local builder Randy Dostal and local architect Jim Novak, unbeknown to each other, have come to embrace a novelty to the Cedar Rapids housing market. They each propose building homes - and Dostal says even storefronts - on pilings or piers, rather than on raised foundations.

“It's not weird in coastal areas,” said Dostal, owner of Thomas Dostal Developers Inc. and a board member with the Cedar Rapids Renaissance Group. The latter is a non-profit whose mission is to build residential housing in flood-damaged neighborhoods. Hurricanes, he said, aren't so different from floods.

Novak, founder and principal of Novak Design Group, said pier-built construction can elevate a home above flood danger, allow homes to be built closer to the river and get them up in the air for better views of the river - levee or no levee.

Dostal and Novak also talk about the need to build affordable homes, and both have concepts that center around pier-built design to accomplish that.

First, though, the city's zoning ordinance would have to change to allow pier-built housing, at least in flood-prone areas. City Council member Chuck Swore said the idea has merit.

Interestingly, it is not the city's building code, but rather the zoning ordinance that prohibits such construction in Cedar Rapids, said Matthew Widner, the city's chief building official. Widner believes pier-built homes are currently prohibited on aesthetic grounds, not for engineering reasons, and he will ask the City Council to change the ordinance.

Concrete piers placed below the frost line, said Dostal, can provide the same support as a traditional foundation but more cost-effectively. Cost is important when building in the city's core neighborhoods, he said. Floors can be insulated to keep out cold and keep in heat, while siding can cover the openings between piers so houses blend in with the rest of the neighborhood, he said.

Julie Tallman, development regulations specialist with Iowa City, notes that neither Iowa City nor the international building code has language like Cedar Rapids' zoning code, which requires “a continuous frost-protected perimeter footing or foundation” around a home. What is required in Iowa City is the proper engineering of piers before the city will approve such construction, Tallman said.

Architect Novak calls his river's edge housing affordable, sensible and creative at a time when people are turning away from bigger suburban-style housing and toward smaller, higher quality housing. Such an option might help keep and attract young people, he said.

In one of his concepts, he uses an elevated walkway to tie together a “village” of four small, two-story homes, with each home on its own single pier. He envisions a hundred or so units, for instance, in the New Bohemia area of town, site of an emerging arts and entertainment district. A similar collection of houses might go up across the river at Czech Village or anywhere along the river, he said.

“The buildings were sort of inspired by bird houses, where they pop up in the air, and here you are, living 12 to 14 feet above ground,” Novak said. “So that affords you a view over the dike, looking back toward downtown or looking at the river.”

At 4 p.m. Thursday at City Hall, city officials will hold an informational meeting for builders and developers to discuss a third round of new-home construction aimed at replacing housing stock lost in the 2008 flood. The program comes with attractive federal incentives for builders. The third round will be targeted at the city's flood-affected core neighborhoods. Rounds 1 and 2 have provided financial backing for 438 residential units, and the third round will support the construction of 235 more.

Dostal is hoping his idea of pier-built housing might find some takers.

“It will be driven by the market,” Dostal said of pier-built housing. “If the market in Cedar Rapids accepts it, it could go gangbusters. If not, at least we gave it a shot.”