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SAC CITY, IOWA - MARCH 28, 2011
On Monday, March 21, 2011 there was a pseudo public meeting of the Chamber/Mainstreet organization of Sac City, Iowa to discuss strategies for surviving the highway 20 bypass. Laura Zimmerman, the director of Chamber/Mainstreet appeared before the Sac City Council on March 28, 2011 to inform the council of what exactly was said at the meeting.
She started off her plea suggesting to the council that the event may have been bigger than it actually was by saying that they “brainstormed with the public.” Folks, there were thirty seven people at this meeting, and the “public” outside of the usual cast of characters was not to be seen. Yours truly may have been the only non-Chamber member of the “public” in attendance.
According to Zimmerman, the chamber plans to get together workgroups to follow up on the several recommendations that were made that evening.
One of the workgroups has been dubbed “Community Education Committee.” According to Zimmerman, this workgroup will approach other communities that have been bypassed and attempt to find out what lessons they learned, what they would have done differently, and what would they do the same. Zimmerman did not share with the public the names of the people who make up the community Education Committee of the Sac City Chamber/Mainstreet.
Zimmerman shared that there has also been formed a “Marketing Committee” who will be tasked with working with the downtown businesses to figure out what customers will be missing after we are bypassed, what percentage of total sales is pass through traffic vs. local traffic, putting up billboards and community signage out on the bypass, and turning Sac City into a destination. Zimmerman did not share with the public the names of the people who make up the community Education Committee of the Sac City Chamber/Mainstreet.
A “Community Beautification Committee” which will be doing things like, either painting or building what amounts to a large fence around the Sunwise building, and turning what was highway 20 into a boulevard. Zimmerman did not share with the public the names of the people who make up the Community Education Committee of the Sac City Chamber/Mainstreet.
This committee and the Chamber/Mainstreet organization have decided that they will focus on North 5th street for the time being since it will be the main entrance to our town when the bypass is complete in 2013. According to Zimmerman this group has already gone to work cleaning up trash and pulling weeds on property visible from North 5th street.
Zimmerman then presented the figures of said beautification project. As you can see from the included document, it will cost in between $40,000 to $50,000. Zimmerman hopes that the project, pictured here…
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…Will be funded totally at the local level.
According to Zimmerman, the goal is to do as much beautification as possible for as little money as possible.
Zimmerman shared with the council that they intend to apply for grants from the Sac County Endowment Foundation, the City’s “Trees Please, Trees Forever” program, and Keep Iowa Beautiful. According to Zimmerman, The East Sac County Future Farmers of America would like to be involved and may donate plants and labor to the project. She also shared that the 4H would like to donate labor, but she did not indicate which chapter she is in contact with.
Zimmerman said that she visited with a “gal” (unnamed) who works on small community projects for MidAmerican energy and that there may be some way to get a little funding from that corporation.
Sac City Councilperson Jim Johnston also reminded Zimmerman to share with the council that the Sac Community Foundation would like to be involved as well.
According to Zimmerman, the Sac City Chamber/Mainstreet hopes to get the bump outs, the lights, and the planting done by September or October of 2011. Neither Zimmerman nor Johnston indicated how much the Sac Community Foundation may be interested in donating to the project.
After a brief discussion Sac City Councilperson Nick Frohardt moved to approve that the City of Sac City become the fiscal agent for the project so that it could qualify for certain aforementioned grants for which only municipalities are eligible and to allow $4,000 of in kind contributions for the removal of concrete and debris. To this he added that Sac City Maintenance Department Head Bob Scheffler isn’t to be directed to have his crew do more work on the project without further council approval. The motion was seconded by Hansen and approved unanimously.
Additional documents of interest:
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I understand the idea of making that entrance to town look better. It will be needed. Here's a silly thought, though, how about the existing bump-outs, mini-parks, whatever term you want to use? They have seen nothing but depreciation and the occasional citizen-led clean-up. Not much for maintenance, and nothing for improvements since they were built. In fact, I believe the only maintenance has been removing damaged railing. Will this project see the same fate? In ten or fifteen years will we be looking at overgrown trees with weeds and root-sprouts coming out of the bases? I'm not trying to be negative, I'm as positive-thinking as anyone. I'm just trying to be realistic and point out that there needs to be a long-term sustainable plan for this beautification, and some TLC for similar previous projects.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure putting ghost people and cars in the pictures was a good idea.
ReplyDeleteAnon April 1, 2011 - the study that generated those pictures (done by an ISU urban design team - I have a copy somewhere in my house) used real photos they took around Sac City. The "ghost" people and cars were in the photos when taken, the design group removed all people and vehicles so as to have no personally identifiable information in any of the photos.
ReplyDeleteSeems like they wouldn't make it a Ghost town. I think that is what Anon April 1st means
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