Waste agency giving NewBo $400,000

CEDAR RAPIDS - A month ago, NewBo City Market asked the Cedar Rapids/Linn County Solid Waste Agency for $300,000 over three years in exchange for promoting the agency's mission to recycle, compost and divert waste from the landfill.

On Tuesday, the agency's board of directors reported that the market had revised its request to $400,000 over four years. The board unanimously approved the move.

The board directed agency Executive Director Karmin McShane to draw up a contract with the market. The contract should have a provision to stop the four $100,000-a-year payments should the market cease to operate, board members said.

Officials with the year-round farmers market plan to start construction this spring to transform a former industrial building into the market in the heart of New Bohemia at Third Street and 12th Avenue SE.

Market officials have said the construction budget is about $5.3 million, which includes $1.1 million of in-kind support from the city of Cedar Rapids for the value of the land and the cost of demolition of some buildings on the former Quality Chef Foods site. Before the waste agency agreed to contribute, at least $2.3 million had been raised toward a fundraising goal of $3 million.

The Cedar Rapids City Council also has committed another $1.3 million in loan funding should the market need money to start construction. However, Mayor Ron Corbett, a member of the Solid Waste Agency board, said Tuesday it does not appear that much if any of that money will be needed.