It's been a long time coming but the demolition of the buildings on the former Dico site in Des Moines is right on schedule. Demolition crews hired by the City and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are tackling the job at the Superfund site on two fronts.

"The City's on-site role in this demolition and cleanup really got rolling in August, and we couldn't be more pleased with the progress made," Assistant City Manager Pam Cooksey said. "As long as the weather cooperates, and barring any unforeseen challenges, we should have our portion finished in November."

The Dico Site on the southern edge of downtown has been considered a Superfund site by the EPA since 1983. After decades of challenges, the City now has ownership of the site and is focused on preparing for future development.

While the buildings will be gone, there is still important work that needs to be done. The EPA will continue work to remediate the south pond and replace the groundwater treatment system prior to potential re-development.

"Rental assistance does little good if it's not disbursed quickly. When we learned that funds would be available for Des Moines residents financially affected by the pandemic we knew that help needed to arrive as soon as possible - that's why we sought direct funding from the U.S. Treasury and collaborated our efforts with IMPACT Community Action Partnership," said Mayor Frank Cownie. "I'm very proud of our efforts and our partnership with IMPACT. There have been too many families facing too many problems these past 18 months and anything we can continue to do in Des Moines and Polk County to help keep folks safe in their homes will always remain our highest priority."

The first round of rental and utility emergency funds was released to the county and City in February 2021 through the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021. The second round was provided via the American Rescue Plan of 2021. The collaboration of local nonprofits along with city, county and state leaders are utilizing innovative approaches to make the most of all available federal funding.

You can read the entire release on our website here.

It's been three years since a torrential downpour brought a raging river of water through Beaverdale basements and backyards and now, something completely different is changing the landscape of the northwest Des Moines neighborhood.

With nearly $6 million in funding from the Local Option Sales Tax and the Stormwater Utility Fee, the Closes Creek Phase 2B project has cut a massive scar into the earth behind the houses near 41st Street and College Avenue to create a basin capable of storing more water than 5 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

"Putting in basins like this allows the City to slow down that water during those bigger storm events," Des Moines Clean Water Administrator Patrick Beane said. "It's not going to store it permanently, but capture it and store it for a short period of time and slowly release it as storms come and go."

Work on this phase of the project is expected to wrap up this year providing a sizable, above-ground detention basin for stormwater that will greatly reduce flash flooding both in this area of northwest Des Moines and further on downstream.

For more information on the Storm Sewer improvements in the Closes Creek watershed, you can click here.

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