CEDAR RAPIDS — The Cedar Rapids City Council has taken a first step toward imposing a local topsoil rule on development sites that syncs better with its flood prevention plans. This is after the state of Iowa set aside its so-called “four-inch” rule in June but allowed communities to adopt their own standard.At its meeting Tuesday, the City Council’s three-member Infrastructure Committee generally supported a proposed new city topsoil rule as spelled out by Kasey Hutchinson, the city’s stormwater coordinator.The city’s Stormwater Commission has endorsed the proposal, Hutchinson told the council committee.Council committee members Scott Olson, the chairman, Ralph Russell and Ann Poe said they like that the proposal gives developers options on how to meet the proposed city topsoil standard and that it calls for a credit that could save a complying developer money by requiring less of a detention basin system at a development site.Olson said the proposed topsoil rule, which is designed to slow water runoff and improve the quality of water that does run off, represents “a drop in the bucket” in costs for a city that endured a historic flood in 2008 and a damaging flash flood in June 2014.