Lumsden highlights a busy 2023, new projects for 2024

     2023 and 2024 has been and is shaping up to be a busy year(s) for Jones County Economic Development (JCED).

   Director Derek Lumsden met with the Jones County Board of Supervisors during their Jan. 23 meeting to provide a program update and make his Fiscal Year 2025 funding request of $50,000.

   In 2023, the CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) building façade project was completed on the south side of Main Street in downtown Anamosa. Lumsden said design work has started for the buildings on the north side, which might be done in two phases consisting of roughly 10 buildings in each phase.

   “Our hope is that it’ll be done by late-summer or early-fall this year,” he said of the first 10 buildings. “When it’s all said and done, it’ll be about 30 buildings with their facades lifted. Most of those buildings have stuff in them now. Most are full and continue to have people in them.”

   JCED is a member of ECICOG, which covers the Cedar Rapids corridor. Through this region, Lumsden explained there is no option for a brownfield program.

   Brownfield sites are those that contain some sort of contamination.

   “They’re usually vacant or dilapidated commercial or residential properties that can’t be redeveloped because it costs too much,” added Lumsden.

   While there are grants through the EPA and DNR, ECICOG hasn’t been able to secure such funding because they don’t have such a program. So, Lumsden looked into ECIA (East Central Intergovernmental Association), which covers the Dubuque area.

   ECIA offers a five-year grant program to tackle brownfield sites.

   “We have two buildings that we’re assessing here in Anamosa and we can assess properties across Jones County if we have anybody who’s interested in potential redevelopment,” offered Lumsden. “If you get this testing done before someone buys a building, you can open funding in order to mediate whether it’s asbestos or lead paint or other chemicals. It’s one of those things we’re really excited about this year that we have this opportunity.”

   Supervisor Joe Oswald asked if there would be a limit on how many sites can be assessed.

   “Until their funding runs out,” answered Lumsden.

   JCED has also and continues to work with Monticello Main Street, particularly on the “Grow with Google” training sessions. These assist business owners in better utilizing social media as a marketing tool.

   “We’ve also done some basic survey work that’s setting them (Main Street) up for market analysis that they’re going to start this spring,” he added. “They’ll find out what is missing in Monticello, what can they do, what do people want. It’s a multi-tiered process but it’ll really help Monticello Main Street drill down their options and bring in something new and different into the community.”

   JCED is also a part of ECICOG’s Envision East Central Iowa program, which is the strategic plan for ECICOG.

   “There are a set of pillars we’re focusing on, everything from research and development, manufacturing, housing, broadband, childcare.”

   JCED works with regional tourism groups in the Cedar Rapids and Dubuque regions. Right now, he’s working on creating an inventory of events and attractions in Jones County to partner with those regions on loops. Could there be a museum loop, where visitors travel from county to county to see various museums? Or a live music loop?

   JCED has been successful in bringing broadband to Jones County, with Cascade Communications installing fiber to rural parts of the county.

   JCED was awarded $500,000 from HUD to help establish affordable housing in Jones County.

   “This is something we’ll be spreading out throughout Jones County,” Lumsden said. “We have a number of different opportunities that we can partner with, not only with the LMI (low-to-moderate income) set-asides in Monticello and Anamosa, but do things like the IPI (Iowa Prison Industries) homes in Newton and put those in other communities or work on upper-story housing or potentially an apartment building somewhere or some single-family homes as long as they meet the criteria for LMI housing.”

   The grant money has to be obligated by 2026-27 and spent by 2030.

   Two new projects for JCED in 2024 have to do with continued tourism and promotion.

   JCED is partnering with Travel Dubuque, specifically with the expansion of the Field of Dreams in Dyersville.

   “We get a lot of people down here staying in our hotels, eating at our restaurants because Dyersville just can’t accommodate them all.”

   Travel Dubuque secured a DRA (Dubuque Racing Association) grant that will be utilized to benefit the region for advertising needs.

   “We’ll be in all of their published literature and on their website as well,” Lumsden noted. “So of the things we highlight, what we want people to come here for, it’ll be with Travel Dubuque.”

   JCED is also partnering with the State of Iowa on the “Arrivalist” program. The state can collect cell phone data “to see where people come from, how long they stay, where they go.”

   Concerning the “Five Best Days of Summer” in July for the Great Jones County Fair, Lumsden said he’ll be able to get a better angle on how many people attended the fair, how long they stayed in the Monticello/Jones County area, and where they came from to get here.

   “We can get a lot more data and help us determine as tourism entities where we want to try and promote Jones County,” he said.