July 1, 7-9 p.m., Iowa City Public Library, meeting room A
I. General
Turnout quite a bit smaller than last time—100+ people. Steve McGuire opened the meeting, the second in an “ongoing” series (that shall include one devoted to hydrology in the near future). He introduced guests from county public health dept. and city housing dept., who fielded q&a for first hour and a half. The evening ended with a bit of discussion about the buyout petition, most attendees having departed by then.
II. Informational items
A. Safety first!
Doug Bearsley, director of Johnson County Dept. of Public Health, said the biggest concerns following a flood are “safety events”—first, electrocutions; second, carbon monoxide poisoning when generators are in a garage or too close to a window. He also cringes at the sight of small children running around barefoot in a demolition site littered with nails.
Of some concern, but far less, are health issues—mold, mosquitos, etc. We shouldn’t expect disease problems but people vary in their sensitivities. People with immune-compromised health conditions or asthma should NOT be around these sites.
There are no health standards for mold, but masks are recommended when working around mold and tearing out walls and so on—not simple dust masks, but so-called N-95 masks that allow for a proper seal and filter out 95% of particulate matter. Masks make breathing harder; stay hydrated and take breaks.
B. From the housing folks
Doug Boothray, head of IC housing inspection services, mentioned that his dept. is doing a lot of inspections in the PVT. Water now on and sewer operational in the neighborhood.
Tim Hennes, sr. building inspector, reviewed rebuilding guidelines on a handout the city provided—going over what needs to be done in rebuilding and at what points you need city approval.
Julie Tallman, city development regulation specialist, addressed some of the specific circumstances of households in 100-year floodplain and promised separate meetings for the small group in that category—22 households (out of total of about 136 houses in PVT).
How are floodplains figured anyway? The maps vary and discrepancies have to do with scale. The insurance industry and mortgage brokers use the flood insurance rate map which has a scale of 1 inch to 1,000 feet and is very conservative; the city uses engineering detail maps with a scale of 1 inch to 100 feet which give a better picture—and show things like little knolls that elevate some houses out of the 100-year floodplain. The floodplain designations (100-year is 1% chance of flood in given year, 500-year is .02 % chance in given year) are statistically calculated and refer to surface flows (floodwaters, not groundwater levels).
Questions about do-it-yourself: The city requires licensed professionals for work on plumbing, gas, electricity, and HVAC (heating and cooling); you can be your own general contractor and/or do other work yourself, or hire people.
Questions about heating ducts: Sterilizing heating/cooling ducts is definitely recommended. Some people are planning to block up their existing contaminated ducts with cement and install updraft furnaces instead. That’s an option.
Consider ways to reduce future losses in case of more flooding—e.g., putting ductworks and units in the attic area rather than basements or ground floor.
Questions about siding: Does the water wick up the siding and require its replacement? That depends. Once your house is opened up you can see how bad things look. Structures with brick veneer are more likely to have water trapped inside.
Questions about condensation on ceilings: If you have concerns, open it up and look!
Questions about wiring: Must replace anything underwater; you can cut back above submerged level and raise outlets. Suggestion to use underground feeder wire for rewiring in walls since it’s rated for water contact; this might be a good idea but needs to be researched.
Questions about reconstruction specific to houses in 100-year floodplain suffering more than 50% damage to pre-flood structure: FEMA provides up to $30,000 extra to help elevate, demolish or move houses at 100-year elevation. Lowest floor must be 1 foot above this elevation (which along Iowa River is 651.25 to 651.75). Various ways to do this, depends on the house—e.g., pour new foundation or raise floor; it becomes “a design challenge.”
At some point, a report from a licensed surveyor to certify the elevation will be required; if you’re in the 100-yr floodplain, you might hire a surveyor now to shoot the elevation of the lowest enclosed floor—which already might be high enough. Note that a finished basement is considered the lowest floor.
Questions about what to do while awaiting possible buyouts: What if you spend money to have your house cleaned and sanitized; are you out that money? If you rebuild, are you out that money?
Answer: What you spend to clean and sanitize is money out the door, but you must take care of this stuff. If you have flood insurance and use it to rebuild, you’re not penalized; but if you just take the settlement money and don’t rebuild, that’s deducted from any buyout payment.
Question: What if you don’t want to go back and rebuild your house?
Answer: You need to clean it out and gut it so you can “button it up” and it won’t become a nuisance. At a minimum, get it dried out and sprayed. Once you’ve taken care of the place, inform the housing dept. of the address and leave your contact information and you’ll be fine. If you simply abandon your place without cleaning up, it will become a nuisance and city will have to take legal action. If there’s a buyout it would take at least a year for the money to come through the pipeline, and you cannot let your house sit there and “ferment” for a year.
Question: Can you turn off utilities if you’re leaving house vacant?
Answer: City should be able to shut off water at curbside box; you’ll also have to drain pipes inside. Get utility company to turn off gas. Good idea to leave on electricity—you’ll be billed a minimum charge but obviously won’t be using much.
Question: Can we get a police officer posted at the entrance to the neighborhood at night? Some things already are going missing from people’s homes.
Answer: Question to be referred to police chief. (editorial note: As of Wednesday evening, no cop in sight.)
More questions related to buyouts—cannot be answered yet. The FEMA standard for buyouts specifies payment of pre-flood market values; if a house has been appraised in the past year, the buyout is 110% of that; and if there’s been no appraisal in the past year, the buyout is at 125% of assessed value. But there are at least three ways to calculate market value. One is hiring an appraiser (some people in attendance were thinking of doing this, although evidently there’s no guarantee a private appraisal after the flood will be honored). There are two other formulas and the city is studying them.
Just how high did that water get anyway? Some say it peaked at 655 feet; others say 658. The city engineering department is calculating the figures now.
III. Neighborhood stuff
A. Riverfront caucus
Brad Kaldahl invited people with riverfront property on Normandy to join an e-mail list—contact him at
B. Neighborhood alternatives
Doug Jones made a few remarks about the handout he prepared on alternative configurations for buyouts, access roads, berms, etc. (this may be downloaded from our website).
C. Buyout petition
The buyout petition acquired further signatures, and Steve McGuire will present it to City Council planning meeting scheduled for 7:30 a.m. July 3rd. He said residents need to write letters and also get friends to write letters in support of a buyout for purposes of health and safety—and that he’d put together some “talking points” to use in discussions with potential supporters.
D. Block captains – shall take petition around further in these areas and serve as contact persons.
For Eastmoor: Steve McGuire, s-mcguire@uiowa.edu
For Normandy: Liz Pearce, liz-pearce@uiowa.edu, and Pam Keel, pamela-keel@uiowa.edu
For Manor: Ofer Neville Sivan, nevillesivan@gmail.com
For Park Place & Grenada Court: Judy Polumbaum, judy-polumbaum@uiowa.edu
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