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A “green” rating system for construction called LEED uses four standards, certified, silver, gold and platinum, and last night the City Council said its wants to seek the gold standard and strive for the top platinum standard as they rebuild or replace the city’s flood-damaged buildings. In September, the council set its sights lower when it suggested it would reach to at least meet a basic level of certification in a rating system such as LEED — Leadership in Energy and ...

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Alliant Energy says just five of the original 200 customers won’t be ready on Dec. 1 when the utility shuts down its 117-year-old downtown steam system. Quaker Oats, the nation’s largest cereal mill, won’t have its new steam boiler system in place until April 2010 because of the size and complexity of the new system, Alliant officials said Wednesday. Alliant plans to continue operating two temporary natural gas boilers to supply Quaker, according to Tom Aller, president of the company’s Interstate Power ...

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Easy to miss in the ongoing debate on what to do about City Hall is what city officials and consultants are calling “the clear path.” A clear path is what city officials believe they now have on what to do about three key flood-wrecked city buildings — the public library, the central fire station and the animal control shelter. For each of the three buildings, the city is prepared to replace what was destroyed with something new with the help of disaster-relief ...

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The Jones Park Golf Course Clubhouse is about to become the first flood-damaged city building to reopen. A celebration will be held at the clubhouse, 2901 Fruitland Blvd. SW, from 3:30 to 6 p.m. Thursday. The event is free and open to the public, and refreshments will be provided. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held at 4:30 p.m. and a drawing for door prizes at 6 p.m. Three feet of water filled the clubhouse during the June 2008 flood. Approximately 80 percent ...

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Get set for a detailed array of informational poster boards if you plan to attend one of the open houses on city facilities today or Wednesday. In simplest terms, city consultant OPN Architects Inc. has come up with two general options for housing city offices in the wake of the June 2008 flood: One uses existing buildings and one calls for a new building. In a preview of the open-house poster boards provided by the city late Monday afternoon, some conclusions seem ...

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Victor Prinze is recovering from injuries he suffered Saturday when a flood-damaged garage he was helping demolish collapsed on him, a friend told KCRG-TV9. Prinze, 60, of Modesto, Calif., was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital after the garage at 1626 Eighth St. NW suddenly shifted and fell against the foundation of the adjacent house. Another volunteer worker, Sam Cooper, 24, of San Leandro, Calif., briefly trapped beneath the garage’s roof but wasn’t hurt. LaVonne Smith said Prinze has been moved out of ...

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Police say a Cedar Rapids man and two of his nephews were caught stealing copper from a flood-damaged home. Officers went to 925 Fourth St. SW around 11 a.m. Sunday to check out a report of suspicious activity. Lamont Jones, 38, was in the basement of the uninhabited home, along with DeMarcus Jones, 19, and Daquan Jones, 14. All three were taking copper piping, police said. “It was a family affair,” said Sgt. Cristy Hamblin, a police spokeswoman. DeMarcus Jones tried to run ...

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CEDAR RAPIDS - A group of volunteers dealt with a terrifying moment as they worked on demolition for a flood-damaged home in Cedar Rapids. A detached garage collapsed just before 9 a.m. on Saturday, according to fire investigators, at 1626 8th Street N.W. “They were knocking out walls,” said Greg Buelow of the Cedar Rapids Fire Department.  “They had not touched the structural membrane of the garage.  The foundation may have given way.  The detached garage started moving to the side." Buelow said ...

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The modest circumstances of some flood victims are being driven home by the first wave of buyouts. Perhaps 25 of the first 117 owners whose flooded properties will be bought at pre-flood value will not receive enough money to cover their mortgages or liens. The eye-opening statistic prompted the City Council this week to hire a mediator to help flooded property owners resolve such outstanding debt. Without a resolution between the owners and those they owe, the city would not be able to gain title to ...

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The Linn County Board of Supervisors is moving toward establishing a public art commission that will help select artists to design and build visual art in rebuilt county buildings. County Supervisor Linda Langston has proposed an ordinance that would establish the guidelines for an art commission and stipulate that 1 percent of the building cost for each project be spent on public art projects. The supervisors have indicated they all support the idea. What do you think?

City officials on Friday were reminding residents to attend an open house next Tuesday or Wednesday to weigh in on whether the city should use existing buildings for city offices or build a new City Hall. An earlier open house put the cost of a new “one-stop” City Hall at more than $50 million, though advocates for new construction make the argument that a new one-stop building will save money over time. A peek provided by City Hall of what is to ...

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One upset group of flood victims has been a group of about 300 households who received state Jumpstart down payment assistance on a new home only to learn that the money will be deducted from what they receive once their flood-ruined home is bought out by the city. The rules changed on Thursday afternoon with an announcement in Cedar Rapids by Gov. Chet Culver. The rule change will protect up to $25,000 in down payment assistance from being subtracted from a buyout ...

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Moving the massive Czech & Slovak Museum & Library would be a first in more than one sense, but not an untested task. Jeremy Patterson Structural Movers, of Washington, Iowa, which consulted with museum officials on moving plans, has hauled thousands of buildings. The company was the mover behind the heaviest building moved two years ago, the Murillo Building, a 741-ton, three-story brick apartment complex in Des Moines. It also holds records for the widest structure moved and for moving the most square ...

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Gov. Chet Culver and U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack today announced that more than $1.3 million is in final approval to repair the First Street Parkade, 201 First St. SE. The Federal Emergency Management Agency will pay 90 percent of the cost with the state providing 10 percent. The project is one of 13,300 identified for help under FEMA’s Public Assistance Program in 84 Iowa counties hit by floods and tornadoes in 2008. FEMA and the state have obligated more than $758 million ...

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UPDATE: Leaders of the Czech & Slovak Museum & Library confirmed plans this morning to move the iconic red-roofed building from the banks of the Cedar River. The 18,000-square-foot structure will be incorporated into the total size of the new 60,000-square foot exhibition center and library that will be built by 2012, said museum president and CEO Gail Naughton. “We see this as the best, most viable option for this building,” she said. Moving the wood-frame building with brick veneer will be done ...

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The impending purchase of the flood-damaged Town Centre building by Steve Emerson of Cedar Rapids has fueled hope for a turnaround in the building’s sagging fortunes. The block-long structure at 221 and 201 Third Ave. SE was one of downtown’s top office buildings before the Cedar River damaged the first floor and basement last year. The center has not been rehabilitated because the owner is part of bankrupt financial giant Lehman Brothers. Since the flood, the building has lost at least two ...

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Iowa City has a tremendous opportunity to redevelop the area south of downtown. That was the message from city and federal officials and urban design experts Wednesday night at a kickoff meeting taking a broad look at a section of town ripe for change, especially following last year’s flood. “It seems like we’ve got a perfect storm ... in terms of the circumstances leading us to this event,” said Jeff Davidson, the city’s planning and community development director. More than 60 people attended ...

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There's still no commitment to return any Cedar Rapids city offices to the flood-damaged Veterans Memorial Building downtown. But the city is apparently ready to finally talk about the repair process. The Veterans Memorial Commission discussed some of the details at a commission meeting Monday afternoon. Members of the Cedar Rapids City Council should hear similar details at the council meeting on Tuesday. And the city's flood recovery director expects to see actual construction starting sometime in the spring. The Veterans Memorial ...

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Demolition work has begun to tear down 18 flood-damaged properties in rural Linn County. It's part of the Imminent Threat Demolition Program, which funds the removal of buildings that are near collapse or pose a public health threat. Demolition should be complete by Thanksgiving. FEMA will reimburse the county for most of the demolition costs. The state will pick up the rest.

Cedar Rapids School Superintendent Dave Benson will recommend at tonight’s school board meeting that the Cedar Rapids school district build new support service facilities to replace those damaged in the flood. If approved, the facility would be built on land the district owns at 2933 Ellis Rd. NW, adjacent to the district’s transportation center. A petition to rezone the land from single-family residence to public zone district was filed Oct. 26 with the city. Five district buildings were damaged in the June ...

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CEDAR RAPIDS — AmeriCorps and Habitat for Humanity volunteers will return to Cedar Rapids in June to build and renovate 20 houses, the organizations announced Friday. More than 600 AmeriCorps and Habitat for Humanity members and alumni from across the country will travel to Cedar Rapids for the annual Build-a-Thon. They will be hosted by Cedar Valley Habitat for Humanity for the second straight year. “There is much post-flood rebuilding work to be done in our community, particularly in the area of ...

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CEDAR RAPIDS — About 20 flood-affected families so far have taken advantage of a program to connect them with the help they need for long-term recovery. “There’s still a lot of people out there who are in need, but generally I’m very pleased with the outcome,” said Dave Loy, coordinator of the Partnership for Safe Families’ Flood Affected Support Team (FAST) program. Launched about two months ago with a $24,202 grant from the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation, FAST assigns a volunteer ...

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The city now has about $100 million in federal money to buy out some 1,000 flood-damaged properties. On Friday, the state of Iowa announced that Cedar Rapids would receive $95.5 million from a total of $150 million in federal Community Development Block Grant funds for property buyouts in Iowa. Cedar Rapids’ award will allow buyouts of 852 properties, according to Gov. Chet Culver’s office. In Johnson County, Iowa City will receive $11.7 million for 52 properties; Johnson County, $1.4 million for 18 ...

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The city reminds owners of flooded properties that the pickkup of residential flood debris ends Nov. 26. Crews will begin making a final pass through flood-affected neighborhoods beginning Wednesday. Once the contractor has cleaned up a street, he will not be returning. To date, the crews have removed 41,538 tons of residential flood debris since the June 2008 flood. The work was provided in cooperation with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the contract is ending. For pickup, flood debris must be divided ...

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Cedar Rapids and other Iowa communities will be receiving $150 million in federal funds for the purchase of 1,352 homes damaged in the historic floods of 2008. The funds, announced Friday by Gov. Chet Culver, are the first round of $517 million in federal assistance first announced in June by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Community Development Block Grant funds will go to 20 cities and counties to cover homes not eligible for FEMA buyouts. The first round of funding ...

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