WATERLOO - Engineers will be looking for ways to protect the city's biggest diamond.

Waterloo City Council members this week hired a consulting engineer to study whether a flood wall or earthen levee could be built to protect Riverfront Stadium from the kind of record flooding that washed out the municipal baseball park in June 2008.

"In a nutshell, we're paying somebody to study what we could do there," said Mayor Tim Hurley.

AECOM, of Waterloo, will be paid up to $20,000 to complete the study. Funding comes from a major flood recovery bill approved by the Iowa Legislature in February.

Associate City Engineer Jamie Knutson said any flood wall construction around the park would require approval of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, because it's on the "wet side" of the flood control system in Cedar River-Exchange Park.

"A no-rise certification means that whatever we would build, it can't increase the height of the 100-year flood level," Knutson said. "By having AECOM do this study, they will determine if the city can build anything to protect the stadium."

The Cedar River poured into Riverfront Stadium in June 2008, putting the concession areas and offices almost entirely under water, flooding away the party deck and causing $302,000 in damage. Another $100,000 in projects to mitigate the effects of future flooding are in the works.

"We're doing some additional mitigation to improve the stadium, such as replacing wood walls with block walls and raising utilities," said Rick Curran, park facilities manager for Waterloo Leisure Services.

The party deck won't be floating away again because now it's made of concrete. Blocks of concrete replace wood and sheet rock for building walls; utilities and electrical panels are on the roof, not on the floor; stainless steel replaces wood as the locker material of choice.

But a flood wall or ring levee would still be valuable to protect a major league investment at the stadium.

Peters Construction Corp. of Waterloo currently is working on a $1.12 million locker room construction project under the grandstand, which is being funded in part with a $590,000 grant from the Black Hawk County Gaming Association. That project is expected to be wrapped up in November.

The infield has been graded and resodded through a separate gaming grant. Two years ago, a new front entrance, concessions area and restroom project were completed.

The Waterloo Bucks baseball team recently signed a five-year contract extension to lease the stadium from the city. But the University of Northern Iowa baseball program, which had also used the stadium, has been eliminated by the university.