Business View Magazine | May 2019

225 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE MAY 2019 Valley. Enjoy the security of excellent jobs, fine education, healthcare, recreation, and a myriad of home-based opportunities for makers and artists of all disciplines. Boone is the birthplace of First Lady, Mamie Eisenhower, and home to the Iowa Municipal Band Festival, IMCA Super Nationals, and the biannual site for the Farm Progress Show, the nation’s greatest agricultural showcase. Kurt Phillips is Executive Director of the Boone County Economic Growth Corporation and also oversees operations of the Boone County Chamber of Commerce – two separate, private, non-profit organizations representing business and industry in different ways. He explains, “From the economic development office side, we are a county-wide organization serving the interests of County government and also the cities of Boone, Madrid, and Ogden, which together make up 70 percent or more of the county population of 26,000. About 12,500 people live in or near the City of Boone (the county seat) and because it has previously developed land for retail, commercial, and light and heavy industry, that’s where most BOONE COUNTY , IOWA of my work is focused. We are seeing an uptick in capital investment - a lot of it is retail.” The community of Boone sits on U.S. Highway 30. That four-way trunk highway is a bonus for transportation, access, and visibility. As a result, the city is expanding on the south side, and planning for smart growth in that direction is a priority. There is also a lesser degree of growth to the east, in the vicinity of the municipal airport. The county’s biggest project to date is causing quite the excitement. According to Phillips, “We just received ‘shovel-ready’ certification for a 150-acre site, this week, after a year-and-a-half of work. We’ve done all the environmental, cultural, historical, archaeological research, and the title, ownership history, wetlands, and endangered species research. We’ve concluded what the level of utilities and services are at or near the site. We’ve vetted what our rail service will look like - it’s a big project that just came to fruition. The State of Iowa works with Quest Site Solutions out of South Carolina and through them we’ve