Channeling New Life and Habitat

Conversion of the Bacon Creek Channel into a New Public Amenity and Path in Sioux City, Iowa

Project Summary

Community; Sioux City, Iowa
Technical Assistance: Site Reuse Design
Former Use: Concrete Channel
Future Use: Multi-Use Path

The Bacon Creek channel sits within Sioux City's
historic industrial and stockyards area. The area once
supported Sioux City's growth and development but is
now largely vacant. Land use in the area is evolving,
and a portion of the area is designated by the State of
Iowa and the City as a Reinvestment District. The
Bacon Creek channel was a 1930s Works Progress
Administration project to channelize the Floyd River to
address repeated major flooding. The project was
unsuccessful and has been deteriorating ever since, in
addition to taking up a large swath of land dividing the
stockyard area, the channel is experiencing structural
failures that are threatening adjacent businesses and
properties.

The Community's Challenge

The community has worked for years to repurpose
vacant brownfieids in the former stockyards area and
has successfully introduced new commercial, light
industrial, and recreational uses. However, the large
concrete channel structure that bisects the area
remains a major impediment to the City's efforts to
revitalize the area. The community would like to see an
alternative to the concrete channel that cleans up the
small creek and returns it to a more natural state, with
opportunities forgreenspace, public amenities,
economic redevelopment, and flood control.

EPA's Land Revitalization Technical Assistance
In 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) Land Revitalization Program provided contractor
technical assistance to prepare a conceptual reuse plan
for the Bacon Creek channel. The plan identified a
baseline channel stabilization option, with additional site

design components along the channel after
stabilization. The plan also provides high level cost
estimates for stabilization and amenity creation.

Additional site design components and amenities for
the channel include improving bike and pedestrian
access, cleaning existing flowing water, and creating
connections, economic and urban uses, a unique local
aesthetic, and native habitat. Next steps for the project
include assessing reuses, obtaining stakeholder
feedback, and identifying opportunities and challenges
for redevelopment.

Existing Condition of the Bacon Creek Channel and a
Conceptual Rendering of Potential Redevelopment

For more information, contact Charlie Foley, EPA
Region 7 Brownfieids Program, at

Folev.Charlie@epa.gov.

United States
Environmental Protection
^*^1 M * Agency

Office of Brownfieids and Land Revitalization
560-F-23-330

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