Linn County, Iowa

remaining 25 percent is what’s going to be devel- oped with a mix of residential and commercial uses that includes a range of housing types and price points that we hope will meet multi-generational housing needs–anywhere from the college gradu- ate apartment renter, to the first-time home buyer, all the way to the retired, empty nester.” According to Beck, Phase One of the Dows Farm project, the initial concept planning, is done.“We are into Phase Two, right now,”he states.“We’re doing a market feasibility study; we’re doing some traffic studies; our consultant is working on the de- velopment guidance documents that will be used for developers.Then, the County will issue RFPs to developers. Phase Two runs into June or July. So we’re probably a good 12-18 months away from any type of groundbreaking.” While the Dows Farm project proceeds, the Linn County Conservation Department,which is over- seen by a group of five citizens appointed by the Board of Supervisors, is working on implementing a Master Plan it completed in 2015 that directs how the county’s parks and open spaces can best contin- ue to serve the community as the county continues to develop.“It came up with quite a list of projects,” says Goemaat,“and then the question became how to start implementing them” “A feasibility study was undertaken for the options, one of which was a bond referendum,”he contin- ues.“The Conservation Board,working with the Board of Supervisors, decided in 2016, to place that question on the ballot in the general election: ‘Shall Linn County sell $40 million worth of bonds for the purposes of water quality and land protection, park development, park improvement, and hiking and biking trails?’ It passed with 74 percent support from Linn County residents.The County committed 55 percent of the bond funds to water quality and land protection, equating to $22 million; 30 percent of the funds will go to parks,which is $12 million; and 15 percent will go to trails, so that’s $6 million. A little over 25 percent, or $12 million, of the total bonds have been sold.Those bonds have allowed 31 projects to move forward to date. Seventeen of those are related to water quality and land protec- tion, eight projects are for park development, and six are trail-related.” On the renewable energy front, Beck reports that Linn County has received a SolSmart Gold designa- tion from the SolSmart programwhich is funded, in part, by the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office.“It’s intended to help govern-