Twice is asking a lot

Gazette Editorial Board

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The City of Cedar Rapids wants some of Dave and Sue Kramer's land. For the second time in seven years. The intended use is important: Build a westside fire station on the site.

But after taking 4 acres of the Kramers' heavily wooded 19.5 acres in 2004 to extend O Avenue NW west across Edgewood Road NW to a realigned Rogers Road NW, and clearing trees off another 1.5 acres for grading, the city is seeking an additional 2.17 acres for the fire station. The Kramers have said they're not interested in selling, and the city has taken initial steps in the eminent domain/condemnation process that can force the sale of private property for a public purpose.

Is this piling on the Kramers? No - if there were no other viable sites. A fire station is vital to public safety and protection.

But in this case, there is at least one other suitable site, and it was the city's first choice: 1200 Edgewood Road NW, where it intersects with Crestwood Drive. The owner is Westgate Communities of Dubuque.

But the city recently made the Kramer land its preferred site. Why? “The primary reason ... was that the Crestwood owners did not seem to want to sell and we hoped that the Kramers would be willing sellers, thus allowing us to purchase a site ... without having to ask the City Council to start a condemnation process,” Fire Chief Mark English told us Thursday.

OK, but the Kramers also don't want to sell, even at the city's latest offer of $50,230 per acre.

“It's not about the money,” Dave Kramer told a Gazette reporter last month. “It's about cutting trees off and ruining my hill and my woods.”

We think the city council, which makes the final call on using eminent domain, should tell city staff to reconsider.

The original preferred site is vacant, flat. And it was the top choice of a city advisory committee that studied 11 sites. That seems preferable to tearing into the hilly, tree-filled land owned by the Kramers.

Yes, Crestwood Drive's surface needs improvement to handle the heavy fire trucks, as well as a new traffic signal, adding costs. But those improvements serve the public interest, too. This situation appears to boil down to whether the city expects more delays in negotiating with a company vs. a private individual.

City officials are rightly concerned about moving the project ahead so it doesn't risk losing a state grant to help pay for the facility. Eminent domain, rarely used in Iowa, does take time because of the legal process.

However, the council should not be too quick to give up on the Crestwood site. The Kramers already have given up land for the public's benefit. Expecting them to do it again so soon if another valid option exists is not good public policy.

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