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Spencer City Council Approves Agreement For Additional Flood Relief Funds

December 18, 2024 Steve Schwaller

(Spencer)– Some additional financial relief is being made available to some rental and commercial property owners in Spencer impacted by the June flood.

The city council Monday evening approved an agreement with the Governor’s office that will allow additional funding from the state. Under the arrangement, the city of Spencer will re-allocate $1.3 million in funding to replace a bridge on West 18th Street, with those funds being transferred to the Spencer Economic Development Corporation, or SEDC, for the rental and commercial assistance. In exchange, the state of Iowa will transfer $1.3 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds that will go toward the bridge project.

City Manager Kevin Robinson says the additional assistance is targeted for some rental properties pretty much destroyed in the flood…

“There’s seven apartment complexes that are south of the Merrill Company. Those owners have discussed with the city and are willing to part with each property for $50,000. So for $350,000, we’d like to purchase those seven properties and then hold those for a Community Development Block Grant Disaster Relief project which will re-develop those properties into flood-compliant apartments where you’d see a garage underneath with water flow-through capability with living units up above those. You can see those in other re-development disaster communities.”

Robinson says there are several benefits to the city by doing that…

“We don’t have to pave a new street, we don’t have to run new sewer, water, electric. It’s a very affordable way to replenish living units that are going away as well as re-enhancing a neighborhood that was severely damaged. It puts new construction and also increases the property valuation for the city getting that re-developed. That’s going to take about two years. The balance of that, which will be right around $1 million is proposed to go to commercial business relief.”

Robinson says those funds will help reimburse businesses who lost inventory and equipment in the flood. He says the SEDC will be putting together guidelines and will establish an application process for the funds.

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