Iowa City outpaces Ames and may owe it all to Coralville

Iowa's two largest university towns aren't in a race, but if they were, it would be a yawner.

The Ames metro area has lagged behind Iowa City metro in many key indicators of growth since 1969.

That observation comes from Peter Orazem, an Iowa State University professor of economics who crunched economic and demographic data when he ran for Ames City Council last year.

“I think Ames got complacent,” Orazem said.

Johnson County outperformed Story County decisively from 1969 through 2008 in three of five performance measures. Employment grew 80 percent more in Iowa City, while aggregate income and population each grew 50 percent more.

Story County almost (but not quite) equaled Johnson County in per-capita income and earnings per job.

Why is Johnson County growing so much more rapidly? Orazem doesn't have the answers, only speculation, but he points to a fairly obvious difference - the existence of pro-growth Coralville on Iowa City's west flank.

Coralville's population grew 19 percent between 2000 and 2009, compared with less than 1 percent growth for Iowa City, according to the Website Sperling's Best Places.

Ames Mayor Ann Campbell said Ames' approach to growth is deliberative.

“I think there has been an effort not to have growth for growth's sake and to recognize good environmental and planning principles,” she said.

The city is better known for its Somerset planned community than for chasing retail development, and the Ames Smart Growth Alliance has been influential in city elections.

Campbell said school enrollment stagnation has become a real concern, however. She said the city is looking at ways to promote developments that would make Ames more attractive to young families.

Some who've lived in Iowa City and Ames say it's hard to ignore the difference in growth.

Jamake Dudley attended Iowa State University beginning in 1995, and although he finished college closer to home, he continued to visit until his sister graduated in 2003.

“It was amazing how much faster Iowa City was growing than Ames,” said Dudley, owner of Jamake's Cakes in Iowa City. When he talks to friends about Iowa City's growth, however, he said conversation always turns to Coralville.

“They feel Coralville is getting ready to overtake Iowa City,” Dudley said.

Campbell, the Ames mayor, said Ankeny in nearby Polk County is the nearest retail growth center that's equivalent to Coralville. She said Ames is getting closer to landing a developer for a public-private project in its Campustown commercial district, but some private projects in Ames were put on hold or halted by the recession.

Iowa City Area Development President Joe Raso believes the Iowa City metro economy has diversified more than most university communities.

“What's been amazing to me is that over the past 20 years, over 90 percent of the job growth has been in the private sector,” Raso said.

He believes Iowa City also benefitted from fostering regional ties to Cedar Rapids, perhaps more than Ames has from ties to Des Moines. Raso said the growth of the Iowa City metro area wouldn't be possible without Coralville, however.

“You have Iowa City being the university town of our market, with a long tradition of being a very progressive community,” Raso said. “It has a lot of people with different opinions. It tends to slow down the speed with which things get done a bit.”

Coralville, Raso said, “has been very aggressive and very focused.”

Regenia Bailey, a member of Iowa City's City Council, said Coralville has been more willing than Iowa City to take on a developer role in public-private projects.

Raso's counterpart in Ames, Dan Culhane of the Ames Economic Development Commission, doesn't mind Orazem's criticisms. “In a lot of ways, the table is set for growth in the community, and I don't think we've taken advantage of all of the opportunities that are available,” Culhane said.

Even university cities aren't immune to economic trends. The recession has forced cutbacks at ISU and the UI, and Ames has suffered further cutbacks on the federal and state level, because the National Animal Disease Center and the Iowa Department of Transportation are among its largest employers.

Campbell said the government job losses, estimated by Orazem at 800, can't be ignored. Government layoffs during the recession have been “a wake-up call that we need to have a better balance between government and private sector jobs,” she added.