The Cedar Lake Master Plan completed in 1980 was an outgrowth of a longstanding concern of a number of community organizations such as the Garden Club, Audubon Society, Junior League and League of Women’s Voters. The Northeast Quadrant Committee of the City’s Community Development Program had identified improvement of the lake area as a priority item annually since 1994 and the site was recognized in the 1975 and 1980 editions of the Linn County Park and Outdoor Recreation Plan.
In response to the concern of the community, the City allocated funds for a feasibility study of the area. A twenty-two member Cedar Lake Park Study committee was appointed by then Mayor Don Canney to make recommendations for improvements in the area. To implement the project, Hansen Lind and Meyer P.C., in association with Shive-Hattery, were retained as consultants to prepare a master plan for development of the lake area.
The plan was updated in 2000 and many of the infrastructure improvements, including trails and picnic shelters, are a result of the hard work and vision of these ongoing efforts.
The Friends of Cedar Lake utilized input from the community to develop a new master plan which details exciting improvements for the lake. The plan presented at two public input events was designed pro bono by Confluence Landscape Architecture and Design. Our final plan was funded by community leaders from the 100+ Men and Women Who Care group, which unanimously chose our project as their non-profit organization to support at their quarterly meeting in the spring of 2015.
Cedar Lake is also included in the 2012 JLG Downtown Plan Update which details plans for revitalization of the entire downtown district. Many of the projects that were a higher priority for the district have been completed, bubbling Cedar Lake to the surface. Add this to the decommissioning (.pdf of Gazette article) of the adjacent coal plant plus pending transfer of ownership to the City of Cedar Rapids, and you have a perfect storm that will end with a shining outdoor destination right in the heart of our city.
Lake Ownership
In 1982, the city of Cedar Rapids signed a 99-year lease with Iowa Electric Power, today known as Alliant Energy, allowing public recreation while also shielding the power company from liability stemming from that public use.
Alliant’s coal-fired plant adjacent to the lake used the water as a source of cooling liquid. The plant was heavily damaged in the 2008 flood and Alliant demolished the facility in 2016. The company is also in the process of mitigating the nearby ash ponds.
Since the power company no longer needs the lake, they are currently in negotiations with the City of Cedar Rapids to transfer ownership.
Water Quality
The quality of the water in Cedar Lake is part of our community’s folk lore. Often referred to as “The Slough”, misperceptions abound including that the water is unsafe to use even in a kayak or canoe. The fact is, even as a privately owned lake, paddling was allowed according to the terms of the lease. Changing public perception of the lake has been a key message in our community outreach efforts.
True: The DNR instituted a fish consumption advisory at Cedar Lake in 1986. The reason for the advisory was the presence of PCB’s and chlordane in tissue sampling of bottom feeding fish. Because of this advisory, Cedar Lake has been monitored as part of the Regional Ambient Fish Tissue (RAFT) monitoring program on an every-other-year basis since then.
Good news! The harmful chemicals have been steadily breaking down and the DNR removed Cedar Lake from its Impaired Waters classification in 2015.
So relax. Go fish. Go paddle. Go enjoy Cedar Lake.
