(Spirit Lake)—The Spirit Lake city council last (Tues.) evening was updated on a development plan for the East Lake Business Park to be established on the extreme eastern side of the city, on the north side of Highways 9 and 71. The 130 acre site has been re-zoned to light industrial and has been designated as an urban renewal area, meaning tax increment financing can be used to offset the cost as private development occurs.
The site development plan contains 12 lots for the site, ranging from 4 to 30 acres in size with a paved street, city sanitary sewer, storm water facilities and other infrastructure. Water service to the site comes from Iowa Lakes Regional Water District, but City Administrator Mark Stevens told the council the city has entered into talks with the provider and is hopeful a mutual agreement can be worked out.
Stevens says plans to develop the site will be carried out in phases, and that a company, which he says does not want to be identified yet, has already expressed interest in a lot on the northwest side of the business park.
Stevens added that tentative plans call for site grading and construction of a detention pond to get underway this fall. He says the first phase of the street, sanitary sewer and water would be constructed in the upcoming spring.
Shaun Arneson of the Iowa Lakes Corridor Development Corporation told the council the East Lake Business Park will fill a valuable need for additional room in the city to accommodate future economic development…(click here for comment from Arneson.)
Improvements are also being proposed for Highways 9 and 71, which will be re-surfaced between Estherville and Spirit Lake in the spring of 2014. Stevens says turning lanes will be included in the area of the park, and that there could even be a possibility of the four-lane highway being extended from where it currently ends on the east side of the city, to just east of the business park area.
