News : Middle Cedar Watershed Wetland Basin plans move forward in Vinton

You might ask, "What is the Middle Cedar Watershed Wetland Basin?" as I did. The project is going to help contain enough water in the southern part of Vinton in an attempt to help prevent flooding in other areas of town. The Middle Cedar Watershed Wetland Basin: "The Middle Cedar Watershed (MCW) covers ~1.5 million acres (~2,400 square miles) in East Central Iowa and spans 10 counties: Franklin, Hardin, Butler, Grundy, Marshall, Tama, Blackhawk, Buchanan, Benton, and Linn counties. The MCW consists of mostly agricultural lands (~73%) but also includes many small towns (e.g. Vinton, Traer, and Grundy Center) and several large metro areas (e.g. Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, and Cedar Falls). The Middle Cedar Watershed Management Authority (MCWMA) was formed as a result of a nearly $97 million grant awarded to the State of Iowa from the US Housing and Urban Development under the title, "Iowa Watershed Approach" (IWA). The MCWMA is filed through the State under a 28-E agreement its members consists of Cities, Counties, and Soil and Water Conservation Districts. The MCWMA works collectively to address water quality, water quantity, as well as other environmental issues that cross jurisdictional boundaries. " The city is working on a plan to purchase land owned by the family of the late Dr. Corbett which is located between highways 150 and 218. The project will include just about 10 acres of land surrounding the Corbett home. The cost of this land purchase and the project is covered by grant available for needs such as this. There are two creeks that affect flooding in Vinton. Mud Creek which runs through the southern part of Vinton, and affects the high school baseball diamond and the area behind Tilford elementary (the last few years the fields have been unusable for weeks due to flooding) and the Bascom addition. Henkle Creek, one that is more obvious to those in the downtown area is the other creek that causes flooding in Vinton. The council began working on this proposal with the Corbetts and the Watershed Management Authority almost 2 years ago, and the council is excited to see it moving forward because they feel like it will benefit the citizens. The intention of the plan was to create a stormwater retention basin. There was plenty of discussion about how the family would like to make the area a sort of memorial to Dr. Corbett a local veterinarian that passed away in 2017. The struggle is to make sure the plan for water retention and a memorial are compatible with each other. The grant is specifically to reduce the flooding and it was mentioned repeatedly that in the agreement with the family that they would like some sort of memorial and that they would like to possibly see some sort of a pond for a fishing area, or trail around the project. This brought up the discussion about how to accommodate both desires. Adam Rodenberg explained that a large pond would lessen the effect of the basin because the permanent water would lessen the amount of temporary water storage that would be available. Rodenberg explained that the city is in the preliminary stages of the project they could make changes much easier now if necessary. "My big fear is that this is used for what the grant money is intended for and that it is to help with the flash flooding," said Chris Ward city administrator. "But we also have to take into consideration the people that are selling the property" reminded Mayor Bud Maynard. Brian Parr said of the project, "I don't know, with that kind of money, I guess if I was selling it I'd say, 'Do with it whatever you want.' We're paying an awful lot of money for something that isn't worth a whole lot of money. If we're doing this just so that there's a memory pond, we're defeating the whole purpose of what we started." Tami Stark responded, "Well we can't change the game now, this is something we agreed with the Corbetts a year ago before the appraisal came back." City Attorney Bob Fisher interjected that this was just one thing in a list of ideas from the family and that nothing has been agreed upon and the ideas are negotiable, agreeing with Parr that water retention was the purpose of the project. Parr reminded the council again that the intended purpose was to help with the flooding. Parr said, "I told them repeatedly that this is a mosquito pond and we're defeating the whole purpose of what we started if we worry about making it a memorial" Mayor Bud Maynard pointed out that they wouldn't even sell it if there wasn't something there to memorialize Dr. Corbett. Tami Stark reminded them that it was intended also to be a partial, repeating the word "partial" memorial to the doctor. Parr said that there was a discussion about a trail to go around it as well. It was decided that plans would be redrawn and then someone would sit down with the family to discuss the possibilities. Nathan Hesson expressed his excitement to see this happening so that flooding in the 3rd and 4th wards would be lessened, explaining that this has been what has kept him interested in this project. In the end, it was decided to buy the land and to go back to the drawing board and to see if there can't be a good compromise between the families wishes and functionality, while keeping in mind the purpose of the project.