Regents should approve relocation of Hancher
Many of the Bible’s catchier lines pop up in everyday conversation — such as the notion of cutting off one’s offensive extremities, or throwing first rocks if one experiences a dearth of sin — and these verses usually only dimly relate to the topic under discussion. But one of these dusty old platitudes applies rather neatly to the UI’s push to relocate Hancher Auditorium and nearby facilities from their current location on a floodplain. Matthew 7:26 reads (cue organ), “And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.” Let’s break this down.
At the March meeting of the state Board of Regents, Doug True, the UI senior vice president for Finance, said the total cost of recovery from last summer’s flood damage for Hancher Auditorium, Voxman Music Building, and Clapp Recital Hall complex peaks at $246 million. The UI is responsible for a merciful $114 million of that, of which $52 million is slated for parking facilities. Furthermore, the cost for Arts Building East comes to $60 million, and the university will pay a third of that. If the decision comes about after the regents’ meetings Wednesday and today that Hancher/Voxman/Clapp is to be rebuilt at its current location, the UI’s cost is a relatively tiny $65 million. For those keeping track, relocation (for this handful of buildings, mind you; there are others in the works) costs $134 million, and repair costs $65 million. Unfortunately, the current location seems prone to flooding, and further difficulty with insurance and the Federal Emergency Management Agency would bring more down-the-road costs and less aid for future disasters.
What’s a little astounding is the time lag in making this decision. In 1958, the Iowa City Planning and Zoning Commission issued a report on the local floodplain, Mosquito Flats, which mirrors scripture a little too well. It expressed concern that the “engineering data show that certain conditions of natural runoff in the drainage basin will produce floods beyond the capacity and control of the Reservoir,” and that “a degree of complacency has developed in Iowa City by a lack of understanding of the flood history of the Iowa River and the amount of control possible by the Coralville Dam.” Fifty years ago, people knew this, by way of a more evidence-based book of advice and prudence. Houses on sand, indeed.
But now we have the opportunity to change that. We can give the Iowa River its natural, thousands-of-years-in-the-carving outlet for rising waters — a nice, open wash of water that, instead of the proposed raising of Dubuque Street and the creation of levees and dikes, will take its course and then subside. The cost is considerable, but the gains benefit both the university in future spending, academic programs and safety, and the geography/ecology of our little stretch of Iowa hydrosphere. Let’s get our houses on something a little closer to rock, a good, high-elevation crop of rock, and leave the sands to their weathering. Amen.
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