Flood Mitigation Plans Costly, No Quick Fix

By Jami Brinton, Reporter

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By KCRG Intern

Story Created: Nov 12, 2008 at 8:08 PM CDT

Story Updated: Nov 12, 2008 at 8:08 PM CDT

Coralville is working on costly plans to keep businesses from experiencing another flood like last summer's.
The city just released these engineering images aimed at protecting some 200 businesses.
Business owners like Danise Petsel recognize the value of the Iowa River.
" That's our bread and butter," said Petsel, owner of the Iowa River Power Restaurant. "I mean people want to see the river, they want to see the wildlife. It's a beautiful and that's why a lot of people come here."
Petsel says she doesn't really care how the city of Coralville decides to protect the Iowa River Power Restaurant from future flooding, as long history doesn't repeat itself.
"After this summer if we had to give a little bit of the river away to not have to experience that again, we'd be more than happy to do that " said Petsel.
One proposal the city is considering is to make a 14 foot concrete extension on the back side of Petsel's business.
It would allow the restaurant to have additional seating, even an observation deck.
Then if the waters start rising, the city would place a temporary flood wall there to prevent the river from doing too much damage.
Which is okay with Petsel.
"The idea of this ever happening again, I'm sure it's possible, if it did then let's have the wall," said Petsel.
The complex effort of reducing the impact of future flooding for Coralville businesses is proving costly and time-consuming.
The price tag is 70-million dollars.
The timetable? Nearly a decade.
So the city says it will start with what it thinks it can afford right now.
And that's raising Crandic Railroad, which provides a barrier between businesses and the river.
"There's only a certain part of the community that can be protected by the railroad and we want to go ahead with that project of raising the rail an average of 3-4 feet," said Kelly Hayworth, Coralville City Administrator.
Coralville is waiting to decide on other flood prevention plans.
That's because it's playing a tricky game of dominoes with Iowa City and the University of Iowa.
What one entity does, affects the other two.
So far, the two cities and the U-I have not decided when they will be able to meet to decide how best to move forward.

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