Move recreation center to high ground

By The Gazette Editorial Board

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We understand and sympathize with opposition on the part of some northwest side residents to replacing the flooded Time Check Recreation Center with a new facility in or near Ellis Park.

The flood of 2008 robbed the Time Check neighborhood of so much of its soul and identity. Its scars remain raw across vacant lots and empty buildings where residents once lived and businesses once stood. Many of the places that defined the neighborhood's history and character were casualties of water and muck.

The loss of the recreation center was a particularly bitter blow. Once a buzzing hub of activity, filled with families from all over the city and children at play, the center sat for three years in a state of decaying flux. Once the symbol of the neighborhood's hopes, the flooded wreck became a symbol of bureaucratic indecision.

Now those decisions are finally being made. The city, with the help of $2.7 million in federal dollars, is moving to build a

$3.4 million, 14,000 square-foot recreation center.

A site selection committee picked land inside Ellis Park, near its basketball and tennis courts, as the home for a new center. The city's Flood Recovery Committee also recommends the City Council build the center in or near the park.

And although our heart is with Time Check, our head can't ignore the most compelling argument in favor of a new site. We think it would be a mistake to use public dollars to rebuild the facility at its previous location in the 100-year flood plain.

The same flood that changed Time Check also has changed the way we think about development. And sinking dollars into a site that could be flooded again runs against that altered thinking. Where possible, higher ground outside the 100-year flood plain is the best place for new development.

Flood protection structures may someday protect the west side of the Cedar River, including Time Check. But at this point, the future for west side levees and flood walls is uncertain. Much hinges on an expected sales tax extension vote in March.

And beyond the problems associated with building in the flood plain, we think the idea of building the recreation center in Ellis Park has merit. Placing a facility designed for indoor family recreation within a park designed to provide opportunities for outdoor recreation seems to make sense. The center, like Ellis Park, would be used by residents from throughout Cedar Rapids. And at 1.5 acres, we don't think the center's footprint will adversely affect the park.

We urge the City Council to move forward with the project in an Ellis Park location, while also continuing to support and encourage other efforts aimed at promoting recovery and reinvestment on the northwest side.

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