The city of Woodward celebrated the official attainment of certified-site status for its business park Tuesday afternoon with a gathering at city hall that attracted Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) Director Debi Durham, officials from the city of Woodward and numerous other partners and stakeholders.
The Woodward certified site lies south of the junction of Iowa Highway 141 and Iowa Highway 210. Iowa now has 20 certified sites around the state, and Dallas County is home to four of them, but Woodward’s site is unique in being the first site anywhere in the U.S. to receive “green” certification through the IEDA’s Certified Site Program.
The 190-acre Woodward Eco Business Park is a pilot project and the first of its kind designed to meet the unique needs of companies looking to reduce their environmental impact. The green business park lies within a 463-acre plan that also envisions a sustainable housing development, green space and support services.
“Today’s announcement celebrates not only the first green site in Iowa, but also the fourth certified site in Dallas County,” Gov. Reynolds said in a brief speech delivered during the ceremonies. “I admire the community’s commitment to the rigor of certification and for providing another example of how Iowa is leading on issues, like conservation, that matter to our citizens and our businesses.”
The idea of a green certified site was the 2015 brainchild of Greater Dallas County Development Alliance Executive Director Linda Wunsch, who brought the plan to the IEDA’s Durham for fuller development.
Wunsch spoke Tuesday and thanked the many partners and stakeholders who made the site certification successful, beginning with local landowners Larry E. Frantum and Harry Stine, whose agreeable relations with the city of Woodward made it possible to annex their land into the city.
Wunsch also thanked Deb Lucht, CEO and general manager of Minburn Communications, and Sue Cosner, vice president of community initiatives with the Iowa Area Development Group, as well as Black Hills Energy, Guthrie REC, Impact 7G, Veenstra and Kimm and the city of Woodward.
The IEDA rolled out the Iowa Certified Site Program in May 2012 in order to address the lack of project-ready industrial sites in the state. It is an independent, third-party certification program that uses the site selection firm of Quest Site Solutions — formerly McCallum Sweeney Consulting — as the certifying agent.
The Green Business Park category was introduced by the IEDA into to the Certified Site Program in 2015. The sustainability category was designed for multiple users and ancillary park activities and adheres to the following criteria:
- Due diligence requirements similar to Industrial Certification program
- Preserve natural features of the site, such as wetlands
- Required to adopt covenants that recognize the importance of environmentally sensitive design in both office and industrial development
“This pilot project is a first of its kind in the nation and will put Woodward on the map,” Woodward Mayor Brian Devick said Tuesday. “A key point of this new category is the requirement to develop and adopt covenants that will provide strong guidance for the future development of the Green Business Park. We are very excited to start the process of the new certification.”
Craig DeHoet, a member of the Woodward Economic Development and former Woodward City Council member who was instrumental in promoting the idea of site certification, said the “new classification of ‘green certification’ recognizes the importance of reducing the environmental impact of development. The diversification this will provide to the Woodward economy is something we have planned and dreamed of for years.”
