The economic development activities for the month of February 2002 have been varied. The following is a review of those activities.

Maquoketa Shoreline Development, Inc.: A change has been made in the ownership of Shoreline Development.  The previous stockholders, John Thola and Larry McDevitt, agreed to transfer their stock to Chris Ales, a developer from the Quad Cities who previously developed the Hurst Apartments which are located on S Olive Street, across the street from City Hall.  Ales’ plans include construction of 8 single family residences on the east half of Shoreline Development this summer.

Maquoketa Featured in a Promotional Video: On February 27, representatives from the Iowa Energy Group, working with the Iowa Department of Economic Development, came to the Maquoketa community to videotape the Highway 61 Industrial Park for a promotional video for the State of Iowa. City Manager, Brian Wagner, and Mike Donley of Generac Power Systems were interviewed. The Generac plant and the Family Dollar Distribution Center were featured in this video. We are very pleased to have this recognition.

Housing Assessment Survey Revisit: On February 18 and 19, Martin Shukert of the RDG Crose Garner Shukert, Inc. firm in Omaha, Nebraska, returned to Maquoketa to recap the recent CHAT report and go through a discussion process to define specific program implementation steps. The major conclusion was to work with existing land resources and interested developers and builders and focus public attention on well-located opportunities for new affordable housing development. If you would like a copy of his report, you may pick it up at the Chamber office.

Timber City Development Corp. "Land for Sale": The Timber City Development Corp. has recently purchased approximately 14 acres from Dynamic Metal Forming located in the Maquoketa Industrial Park. The development corporation is offering this property for sale. For additional information, please contact Linda Sturtz at the Maquoketa Chamber of Commerce office 563/652-4602 or by email:  chamber@maquoketa.net

ICON System: On March 1, the formal launching of the ICON (Iowa Communities Online Network) system took place. This is an upgrade of the current Info2Go and Imedia systems. This system will provide comprehensive information about all Iowa communities and their respective sites and buildings. The goal of the State of Iowa is to positively position all Iowa communities by providing tools that will ensure a competitive advantage in the business of site selection. I attended a recent training session to assist our community in upgrading our information on this system.