Comment on 2 Cedar Rapids builders sound eleventh hour alarm on ‘feel good’ topsoil plan

CEDAR RAPIDS — Two builders want to pump the brakes on what they call nothing more than a “feel good” topsoil rule, which has been more than a year in the making in Cedar Rapids.Randy Dostal, of Thomas Dostal Developers, and Drew Retz, vice president of Jerry’s Homes and a past president of the Homebuilders Association of Iowa, aren’t buying the plan city officials say is going to improve soil quality and stormwater infiltration by requiring an average 4 inches of topsoil remain post-construction.