City seeks to establish brand for downtown

The city is expected to implement the three strategies in the next two years, or a longer timeframe, according to City Manager Keri Navratil. A committee has already been created to discuss reforms to the city’s sign ordinance. The city council has already budgeted a cost share  that could pay for blade signs downtown — business owners would be required to pay an additional 50% for their share of the installation.

A brand logo will likely involve collaboration with the downtown resource center, Navratil noted.

Narrowing of Lake Avenue could be in the design phase as early as next year, Navratil added. The project, she said, was “inexpensive” and could be paid for with city funds.

The priorities emerged from a series of meetings between the city council and Iowa Economic Development Authority officials earlier this year. In April, the agency’s downtown resource center toured Storm Lake, interviewed 90 community leaders, individuals and groups and presented in front of city hall a preliminary report of its recommendations.

The three recommendations the city council approved last Monday night emerged from a list of recommendations IEDA submitted to city hall. Storm Lake Economic Development Director Lee Dutfield told the council that the recommendations would provide a useful roadmap for committees in the future.

“(IEDA’s) report cannot and does not provide all the answers,” Dutfield told the council. “Ultimately, it’s up to Storm Lake citizens who must explore their options in deciding what’s relevant and realistic, and acquire additional information and resources as they address outcomes. We need everybody to participate.”

The downtown business community’s reactions have ranged from ambivalent to skeptical, according to George Schaller, the retired president of Citizens First National Bank in the 500 block of Lake Avenue.

Schaller, who attended downtown master plan meetings in their early stages in 2022, views the plan as a matter of skewed priorities.

The city’s street infrastructure needs over $100 million over the coming decades.

The city sued the county over $5 million in tax-increment financing revenues that went missing over 12 years. Wyatt Yon threatened to sue the city over stormsewer drainage on Cayuga Street. The city’s water system is in need of an overhaul; on Monday the council authorized the issuance of $8 million in bonds that’ll be paid through its water franchise, which has steadily raised rates over the current city administration’s tenure.

Schaller said the city could’ve invested the money from its downtown master plan into its infrastructure. He noted that the city has declined to estimate the cost of narrowing Lake Avenue. With the unanswered questions, Schaller wonders how the city can generate clout with business owners, who at some point will be required to foot the projects on the city’s wishlist.

“Nobody asked for this,” said Schaller when told about narrowing Lake Avenue. He claimed business leaders from Spencer and Ames “would kill” for their downtowns to have four lanes like Storm Lake, whose current street width has been in place going back for as long as the octogenarian banker can remember. Schaller’s family can be traced through generations in Storm Lake. Per legend, the city’s downtown was unusually wide so that drivers could turn their cars in the middle of the street, he said.  

Schaller took issue with city hall re-engineering downtown traffic, which he believes was carefully planned at one time. A redesign, he said, could create unintended consequences for traffic safety and overall maneuverability in the downtown.  

“Streets are meant to convey traffic,” Schaller declared. “They’re not a scenic enterprise. They’re not supposed to be a visual experience. That’s not what they’re designed for.”

Critics have also described the city’s approach as overreaching and overly complex.

Many of the city’s new priorities, as outlined by IEDA’s recommendations, involve new initiatives like downtown forums, new seating and a public art plan. They didn’t focus on some of the large expenses business owners face, a frequent complaint by the master plan’s critics. Every year the downtown sidewalks are marked by the city’s code enforcement office for improvements that must be made by a certain date.

Those sidewalk improvements are the responsibility of the business owner — the city doesn’t share the improvement cost.

Mike Rust, a landlord on Lake Avenue, worries for downtown retailers and building owners in the current economic climate. Rents in the downtown fetch some of the lowest amounts among commercial properties in Storm Lake. A commercial building south of West Milwaukee Avenue, on an average square footage basis, fetches less rent than a similar property north of West Milwaukee, according to a review of leasing data by the online commercial real estate broker, crexi.com.

“Keep it simple,” said Rust when asked about the city’s long-term goals. “We need to think hard about this, especially the expensive stuff. Somebody’s going to have to pay for this. And if it’s building owners, they can pass those costs on.”

Schaller noted much of the downtown master plan has emerged from consultant contracts, a strategy that has been used sparingly in negotiations with large, private businesses. For example, the city didn’t hire a consultant to renegotiate a long-term water sale agreement with Tyson Foods. Last year, Tyson agreed to pay for a portion of an $8 million water tower that’s being built this year next to its facility on Richland Street. It also agreed to pay bulk commercial rates that were to be set at a later date.

“We don’t need a consultant for downtown,” Schaller said. “Just leave it alone. Let it grow on its own. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. There are more important things to be spending city money on.”

Mayor Mike Porsch acknowledged the city needs consensus on the long-term vision of the downtown master plan. Porsch feels city residents haven’t said enough yet about what, if anything, should be done.

Navratil believes the city doesn’t need more input. She said the results of the surveys by IEDA and ISG, the city’s consultant on the master plan, were clear. Business owners wanted the improvements that were mentioned in both surveys.

“It’s going to take time,” Porsch said. “We can’t dive into this one quite yet. We probably need more information, especially with the Lake Avenue narrowing. That’s going to be a huge project.”

Porsch also said that Storm Lake United would be essential in persuading business owners to participate in new signage or committee participation. He noted that a committee the city council recently formed — one tasked with reviewing the sign ordinance — would be primarily composed of business owners. Porsch believes the city’s relationship with Storm Lake United is headed in the right direction. In recent years, the relationship between city hall and Storm Lake United has frayed, as the city council shrank the agency’s annual appropriation and the city started its own series of events outside of Storm Lake United’s purview.

Porsch said it won’t be possible to achieve the downtown master plan’s goals without cooperation from Storm Lake United and other organizations that promote the city.

“This won’t be a city thing by itself,” Porsch said. “It just can’t be. We won’t get very far if it is.”