Iowa City levee project to be discussed Tuesday night

Red flags appeared last week on utility poles along the route of proposed levee to separate Taft Speedway and the Idyllwild neighborhood in Iowa City, and the City Council is now scheduled to vote Tuesday night 2on hiring a consulting firm to do a feasibility study on the project.

"We don't know who put the flags up, but we [Taft Speedway residents] are of the opinion that the height of the flags indicate the top of where the proposed levee would stand," Taft Speedway resident Jim White said. "Sometimes it takes a visual to understand the magnitude of something,"

Iowa City of Iowa City Public Works Director Rick Fosse says, however, that the City of Iowa City Public Works division did not put the markers on the utility poles.

"Our office is not familiar with the red flags and do not know what they may represent or what their accuracy is, assuming that they do represent something," Fosse said.

The construction of the proposed levee, which has been described as following Taft Speedway and No Name Road while encircling the Idyllwild neighborhood, has been a controversial issue between Taft Speedway residents and the City of Iowa City since the aftermath of the floods of 2008.

Residents of the Taft Speedway neighborhood believe that the proposed levee would leave nine residential homes along Taft Speedway on the "wet side" of the levee, while properties in the Idyllwild neighborhood would remain protected if the Iowa River were to rise.

The City of Iowa City says that they offered to buy out properties from fifteen residents shortly after the floods of 2008 and warned that the construction of the levee was a possibility in the future. However, only three homeowners and a vacant lot took up the City's offer. The rest chose to stay.

"The City Council's approach is that it [the levee] is for the greater good,"  Taft Speedway resident Kathy Wilcox said. "But that doesn't sit right [with the affected residents]."

Dr. Witold Krajewski, director of the Iowa Flood Center, said that although the proposed levee would change the flow regime of the Iowa River around the park, the Iowa Flood Center cannot make any decisions for the City Council regarding the construction of the levee.

"We do not make decisions -- we provide information," Krajewski said.

The City Council's vote, which was deferred by a 7-0 vote on July 5, is scheduled to take place during Tuesday night's meeting.

If approved, the Council would award an $84,550 contract to HDR Engineering Inc. to study what the proposed levee would mean for the homes remaining on Taft Speedway.  The Iowa Department of Economic Development has agreed to pay for the study.

Writer James Malewitz contributed to this story.