Most Spirit Lake residents support growth

SPIRIT LAKE – If money wasn’t an issue, Spirit Lake residents would support many things: Downtown revitalization, building bike and pedestrian paths, improving roads and sewer and more economic development.

That’s the consensus among the 500 or so people surveyed in the parking lot outside Miller’s Food City in front of Old West Hardware, as they pumped gas at the Conoco, sipped a cold brew at the local bars or at their own home by volunteers who went door-to-door seeking opinions.

“If we didn’t care about money and lived in a perfect world, paint me a picture of what this community would look like,” said business owner and volunteer Marc Kroetch. “That’s what we’re trying to get at.”

Now that the results are in, the community members behind “Creating a Value-Added Community” have the task of prioritizing the desires of the residents and then the real challenge – coming up with money to make those things happen.

Spirit Lake was given $10,000 by the Northwest Area Foundation to participate in the Creating a Value-Added Community program, which aids communities in reducing poverty and planning for economic development.

Tom Russell, a 30-year resident and member of Spirit Lake’s Urban Renewal, said people who responded to the survey added to the list of projects the town should address.

Some said there’s a need for more activities for teens. A pharmacy. Others supported preserving the red brick Civic Center that used to be the town’s high school. Better communication between City Hall and residents was suggested by one respondent.

One woman told Russell she never wanted to see her city street paved for fear it would make her taxes go up.

But Russell said the surveys showed that most residents supported everything from fixing the streets and adding pedestrian and bike trails and encouraging economic development. The Northwest Area Foundation’s program will help the town identify its assets and capitalize on those assets, Russell believes.

He said there’s plenty to work with.

“It’s a very nice community and has a lot of very nice people,” he said. But Russell is concerned that there aren’t enough jobs and enough affordable housing to keep people from growing up and leaving town to make money and raise their families.

Russell said he feels fortunate that his children and grandchildren have been able to stay here.

“I’d like others to be able to do that,” he said.

Now that the surveys have been completed, Russell said the committee will meet next week with the Panhandle Area Council to explore options for funding improvements in Spirit Lake. A community meeting will be planned in the coming months to share the results and get more feedback from residents.

“We want people to have a part in it and feel a part of it,” Russell said.