In this 2014 file photo, a crowd gathers at the Greene County Community Center to hear about ongoing building projects from Ken Paxton, executive director of the Greene County Development Corp.

Water park, covered horse arena put on priority list for county

Special to The Jefferson Herald

What’s The Big Idea?

That’s the question the Greene County Development Corp. (GCDC) board of directors chewed on last Tuesday at its monthly meeting.

The board held an open discussion of specific long-range projects to which the members wanted to assign priority status in the next two or three years.  

The suggestions will be discussed in further detail at the next board meeting, and committee members will be named for each of the projects. The board will then seek to recruit other committee members from GCDC, other organizations and the general public.

The board placed the following nine initial projects on its priority list:

Youth sports complex

The project could potentially include baseball, soccer, softball and/or youth football fields, possibly tied to a water park.

Covered arena at the fairgrounds

The arena would be used to attract a broad range of events, focusing on horse shows and horse-related events like barrel racing, roping and rodeos.

It could also host livestock shows and auctions, flea markets, motocross and other live entertainment.

Some 36 horse shows were reportedly rained out in Iowa in 2014; such rainouts could be avoided by a covered arena.

Water park/aquatic center/indoor pool

Options for the facility could be to attach it to the Greene County Community Center, locate it near other recreational facilities such as the proposed youth sports complex or develop a free-standing indoor or outdoor facility.

More local Highway 30 Coalition members

More members would help promote the proposed four-lane highway stretch from Ogden to Scranton.

Downtown revitalization

Scott Weber, of Jefferson, proposed forming a new group to provide funding and loans to improve Jefferson business building facades and other features.

The group would work in concert with Jefferson Matters: Main Street.

Weber based his proposal on a similar successful project in Cherokee.

Greene County Early Learning Center expansion

To alleviate the pressure from the center’s growing waiting list, additional space is needed.

Youth awareness of area businesses

Develop ideas, like the Employer/Education Summit this September and the Career Fair at Greene County High School in October, to encourage young graduates to locate in the county, or former graduates to return here.

Attract new businesses to Greene County

This project would try to fill some voids in the business community, such as a tractor/trailer repair business, more artisans for the Artisan Colony and more skilled tradespeople such as plumbers and electricians.

Development projects

These would generate from expansion of GCDC’s function, to include speculative warehouses and retail space, housing rehabilitation and development and rehabilitation of office and business space.

No dollar estimates were assigned to any of the projects, nor any time schedule nor listing of potential financial sources.

GCDC Executive Director Ken Paxton said the list “represents some very important opportunities that fill some community needs which will have a large impact on future economic development in the county.”

Contact Us

Jefferson Bee & Herald
Address: 200 N. Wilson St.
Jefferson, IA 50129

Phone:(515) 386-4161