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Linn supervisors approve joint agreement letting Cedar Rapids extend Google urban renewal area into county land
Summary
The board approved a joint city‑county agreement that allows the City of Cedar Rapids to include property outside city limits — including 70 Sixth Avenue and parts of Old Bridge Road — within a proposed Google Urban Renewal Area for infrastructure and economic development work.
The Linn County Board of Supervisors on Feb. 3 approved a resolution authorizing a joint city‑county agreement with the City of Cedar Rapids that lets the city use urban renewal authority outside city limits, within two miles, to establish the proposed Google Urban Renewal Area.
Scott Mather, speaking for the City of Cedar Rapids, told the board the proposed urban renewal area includes 70 Sixth Avenue and Edgewood Road within the Big Cedar Industrial Park and portions of Old Bridge Road that lie outside the city limits. The city seeks the authority to use urban renewal tools to support infrastructure improvements and economic development, including upgrading 70 Sixth Avenue to an urban cross section.
Mather said Cedar Rapids held a public hearing on the urban renewal area Jan. 28 and was requesting the county’s approval of the joint agreement to finalize the plan.
Supervisor Kirsten pressed the city on an explicit commitment to include work on the historic Old Bridge (Iowa Bridge number 220,430) in the urban renewal plan. Kirsten told the board she and Fairfax officials want the bridge preserved and mentioned options such as converting the span to a trail or pedestrian/bikeway.
Mather and county officials told the board the city had agreed to include the Old Bridge in the list of projects in the urban renewal plan and that the city would address it at a later stage in the plan’s development. The board approved the resolution unanimously.
The joint agreement allows Cedar Rapids to use urban renewal authority on county land near the city for public improvements tied to economic development. The approval does not itself authorize construction; project details, funding mechanisms and specific work scopes will be determined in later stages of the urban renewal plan process.
Public comment at the meeting included an update from Joanne Beer, mayor of Fairfax, who said negotiations over a 28E agreement on city limits and annexation boundaries were nearing completion and thanked county supervisors for attention to the urban renewal area discussions.
The resolution passed by voice vote with no recorded dissents.
