Positioning Sioux Center for healthy growth is the focus of commercial site planning for three pieces of city-owned property.
Community Development Director Dennis Dokter and representatives from planning and design firm Confluence shared concepts designed to create a vision for these three properties.
The sites include land north of Walmart in southern Sioux Center, the former hospital property along Highway 75 in central Sioux Center, and a former farm site along Highway 75 in northern Sioux Center.
The concepts are not designed to be set in stone, but instead allow for purposeful planning to be prepared when businesses inquire about locations. They help ensure those locations tie into the larger community and that accessibility is planned.
Confluence’s team created the concepts after viewing the layout of the sites, studying the community’s comprehensive planning and zoning maps, and taking input from stakeholder groups.
For the area near Walmart, the concepts suggest a commercial area that features a mix of retail, fast food, and professional offices as well as potential for a larger retail/commercial store and light industrial toward the west end. In the former hospital site, the concept proposes general commercial such as professional offices and complementary retail and possible residential with a focus on walkability. For the northern site along Highway 75, the concept suggests commercial uses such as sales and services or retail sales.
“We’re really setting a vision and guidance for these sites, tying into our zoning and comprehensive plan, so when we do have business inquiries, we have options and we are able to be proactive, not reactive,” Dokter said. “Confluence is providing these concepts to us also as a marketing tool for these sites as we create a purposeful plan to grow in these areas.”
This process was made possible in part thanks to a $10,000 grant through a partnership between Premier Communications, Aureon, and the Iowa Area Development Group to help create a big-picture vision for these properties. Learn more.