A both sides issue in Cedar Rapids: Flood protection moving forward on west side of Cedar River

Road closures are never good but they are a sign of progress in Cedar Rapids. The 16th Avenue bridge closed this past week to allow for floodgate construction. With any luck, the city will start see more developments like that, sooner than later.

Cedar Rapids leaders recently presented plans to put millions of federal dollars toward the city’s ongoing flood control plans. The extra resources will be targeted at the west side, potentially bringing key projects to completion a few years ahead of schedule.

The city has ambitious plans for an expansive flood control system along the Cedar River, a response to the 2008 flood that inflicted an estimated $6 billion in damage on downtown businesses to the east of the river and neighborhoods to the west.

The federal government’s cost-benefit analysis for divvying up flood protection money favors the east side because property values downtown are high. However, it’s based on an outdated model that underestimates the likelihood of another cataclysmic flood event.

Pacing out and paying for the 7-mile, $750 million plan has been like putting together a multidimensional puzzle. Overseers have to piece together different funding sources and financing strategies, while prioritizing next steps based on a multitude of factors. The longer it takes, the more expensive it will end up being.

This editorial board has long urged local governments to speed up the process to whatever extent possible. A smaller but still serious flood in 2016 — cresting at 22 feet, compared to 31 — was a brutal reminder of the need to act quickly.

The Cedar Rapids City Council at its Oct. 12 meeting voted to spend an initial $5.1 of an eventual $10.2 million — all together, more than a third of the city’s share of the massive American Rescue Plan Act federal spending package — to accelerate flood protection efforts near Ellis Boulevard and O Avenue NW.

It has proved particularly difficult to fund the infrastructure necessary to protect homes in that area from the next 2008-level flood, which seems inevitable given the planet’s changing climate.

The federal government’s cost-benefit analysis for divvying up flood protection money favors the east side because property values downtown are high. However, it’s based on an outdated model that underestimates the likelihood of another cataclysmic flood event.

The millions approved by council members this month will jump-start levee and elevation projects on the west side. When the city adopted its flood control master plan in 2015, that work was expected to start by 2025. With the new funds, it’s now expected to start next year, The Gazette’s Marissa Payne reported.

Bumping up these projects could allow the city to start other projects sooner too. That’s important because a stream of sales tax revenue the city is using on flood projects is set to expire in 2035.

A big missing piece in the flood management puzzle is Linn County. County government leaders have told us for years that they are interested in pitching in but so far have made no major commitments. Now they have $44 million from the American Rescue Plan Act and we think they ought to spend a big chunk of it on flood protection. This investment benefits all Linn County residents and the county government’s operations are extremely susceptible to flooding.

Protecting residential neighborhoods on the west side from devastating floods is a key part of the community’s commitment to environmental justice.

Residents in flood-impacted areas are more likely to be impoverished, elderly, disabled, renters and in women-headed households. They are the kinds of people who historically in the United States have not been well served by city planning, housing and infrastructure policy. This is a small but meaningful step toward correcting past injustices.

This round of federal funding is specifically intended to benefit vulnerable communities who were most severely impacted by the pandemic and to promote community resilience. Cedar Rapids’ use of more than $10 million for west side flood protection is well suited to those missions.

The influx of cash comes at a good time and Cedar Rapids officials are putting it to great use.

(319) 398-8262; editorial@thegazette.com