WRITTEN BY CHERYL WELLS
I have been writing about destination Le Mars all year and my husband Mike reminded me that October is the 1-year anniversary of the Le Mars City councils’ adoption and support of the comprehensive community development plan. All of the featured businesses in my articles were motivated not only by what is happening in our great community, but also by what the future holds. For years Mike and I had encouraged the community to embrace planned growth realizing there is power in working together for a common goal. In 2022 the city council recognized the need for a plan and a director of community development with professional experience. In late July of 2022 Mark Gaul returned to his hometown of Le Mars to accept the position and use his experience in other communities to strengthen his hometown.
The Vision 2045-Le Mars Community Development Plan is a great example of the H Stanley Judd quote “a good plan is like a road map: it shows the final destination and usually the best way to get there.” The basic plan is to double our population and everything we need to support it in the next 20 years.
Le Mars will become the destination community to live, work, play, and visit in the tri-state area by:
• Providing quality of life amenities supporting a family-centric community
• Building 8,500 total housing units in the Le Mars area to support 20,000 residents
• Increasing annual retail sales to $350 million
• Ensuring infrastructure has the capacity to support growth
It has been so much fun interviewing the downtown business owners and getting the rest of the story behind their investment in our community and what it means to them that our community is thriving, yet there is so much more going on.
At our local hospital Floyd Valley Health Care, they recently completed a 5-million-dollar project for the development of the new Maternal Health Department. In addition, they have developed a great service using visiting specialty doctors using their Specialty Clinic Space and expansion of the Therapy Center that was completed this past spring of 2024.
The community recognized the need for a comprehensive daycare plan and as a result a new non-profit was formed to create a unique solution. The Le Mars community daycare center board purchased an existing day care center, raised the money from the community to pay for the building and partnered with the Crittenton center to operate it. This provides lower cost day care and allows our community to have a say in it.
The community schools did a facilities study and recognized the need to replace its 1939 grade schools both from a quality of education as well as the physical room need to support our growth. As a result, there was a group of citizens that were brought together to understand the need and make a recommendation, then several open forum meetings were held. This November we will vote on a bond referendum to build a new consolidated grade school…how exciting.
For as long as anyone can remember there has been a housing development on the North end of town, the Erdman family built that development at the end of WW2 to create affordable work force housing, and it had served our community well for many years. That family approached the Le Mars business initiative corporation in 2022 and said that the area needed to be addressed, and they were ready to sell the 2+ blocks and make room for development. Just last month the plans were announced, and the work will begin this fall on the Overlook Apartments and Town Houses – a beautiful development that was a collaborative effort focused on the Vision 2045.
And my favorite story is that my dear friend Draven who worked for me at the coffee house as a teenager moved back to Le Mars after having lived in NYC and LA to fill the position of Le Mars Arts Center director. You may have seen the article in the Sioux City Journal. A 20-something that’s all about the arts and brings real world experience to our little town because he knows we have a plan. It’s also fun because he’s moving into one of our Lofts on Central that’s part of a renovated 1880’s building providing an opportunity to live downtown and have access to entertainment, food, shopping and groceries within walking distance. Big city living in a small town.
How exciting all of this is, and so much to come. Thanks so much to Mark Gaul and our City Council and many people in our beautiful community that see the vision and are willing to embrace it and do what they can to make it happen.
