Flood plans impact you

The city of Cedar Rapids' effort to build flood protection affects you.

Maybe you live or work downtown or in other neighborhoods hit by the Flood of 2008 and threatened by future flooding. It's possible you work at or own a business that depends on Cedar Rapids' future economic health and development, or you travel through the city frequently to get where you're going.

Perhaps you do business or spend leisure time in the city's core neighborhoods, or you're a property taxpayer hoping that a growing tax base will be a hedge against rising taxes. Maybe you're concerned about the history of the city's neighborhoods and how flood protection might affect preservation efforts.

One way or another, in ways big or small, you're likely to be affected by a $570 million public works project that will rank alongside the construction of Interstate 380 in its scope and will change the face of Cedar Rapids for decades to come.

It will bring miles of levees, flood walls, removable flood walls and gates through the heart of the city and will take two decades to complete.

It promises to have a deep, lasting effect on economic and residential development, not to mention its permanent alteration of historic neighborhoods and the city's relationship with the Cedar River.

So you didn't have to get wet in 2008 to care about flood protection. And you don't have to be a hydrologist, engineer or expert to shape how that protection will be constructed. But you do have to weigh in.

Thursday is the final of three public input sessions scheduled by the city to gather public opinions on flood protection. The open house session runs from 6 to 8 p.m. at the City Services Center, 500 15th Ave. SW. Information also can be found at www.cedar-rapids.org under the heading: 'Community Outreach for Flood Control.”

'We're not just deciding this for now. We'll be living with it. That's why public input is so important,” said Cedar Rapids City Council member Ann Poe, who chairs the council's Flood Protection Committee. 'It's not like you can pull up a levee and move it if you don't like it.”

The sessions are being facilitated by HR Green, an engineering and technical consulting firm taking the lead designing west-side flood protection plans. Thursday's session will allow residents to comment on protection plans slated for both banks of the Cedar River.

HR Green's Jim Halverson, who is the firm's community contact on the project, said participants will have a chance to weigh in on multiple aspects of the project, including its potential alignment and design.

'It can have a great influence on the process,” Halverson said.

Alignment of west-side protection remains uncertain, particularly on the city's northwest side.

Potential alignments of levees stretching from I-380 on the south end of the Time Check area to the vicinity of Penn Avenue on the north end near Ellis Park have yet to be finalized.

The final decision on where the levees are placed could make it necessary for the city to buy out a dozen to nearly two dozen properties. Protection also must be planned for Kingston Village and Czech Village neighborhoods.

The stakes are high for homeowners and businesses that could be directly affected by the alignment. But where the northwest-side levees and flood walls are built also will determine how much ground will be available for floodable green space or protected development land. That balance will have broader community effects. Do residents want to see more development or more open spaces?

Thursday's meeting is certainly not the last chance for the public to weigh in. The City Council is not slated to make a final decision on the protection system until June. Environmental and archaeological assessments are ongoing. And there remains uncertainty over federal funding that's needed to complete walls and levees on the east side.

But Thursday's session is an important moment in the process. A city that gets accused plenty of not listening to its residents will be listening Thursday. Don't miss your chance to be heard.

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