Trust at the center of rural development efforts in Johnson County

LONE TREE — Local business owner Caitlin Ford is helping lead efforts in Lone Tree focused on revitalizing downtown and garnering support for local businesses — as well as encouraging new businesses to come to town.

Simultaneously, Johnson County’s other smaller cities, like Hills and Swisher, are working on their own community-led downtown revitalization efforts with the help of Sarah Thompson, rural development director at Iowa City Area Development Group.

Ford said it’s important for county residents to recognize the importance of supporting businesses in the county’s smaller towns, which sometimes can feel overlooked compared to the metro cities. Lone Tree, in southeast Johnson County, has a population of 1,353.

“Even if it's just bringing in awareness that things like this can happen in Lone Tree, that we are deserving of having our town revived again,” Ford said. “Decades ago, it was a very thriving community that could take care of themselves, and I think that we can definitely get back there one day.

“But it takes a lot of people, it takes a lot of trust and it takes a lot of support for something like that to happen.”

Ford, who was born and raised in Lone Tree, moved back to city with her husband in 2014. She owns Deeply Rooted Beauty & Boutique on North Devoe Street, which she opened in 2019 and expanded in 2021.

“With the business that I had, I really saw that other businesses could thrive here,” Ford said.

About 75 percent of Ford’s clients come from communities around Lone Tree, with the remainder from Lone Tree, which “has been really supportive of us,” she said. Ford sees the business drawing people to spend time in Lone Tree.

Ford, who’s involved with the Lone Tree Chamber of Commerce, is helping form an economic development group in the city.

“Change doesn't happen overnight, (and) this is going to be a long process of getting us back to where we were many, many years ago,” Ford said. “I just hope that people can trust the process and have patience and help us see all of this through so we can all have a better, more thriving community to live in.”

Better Together

The themes of building trust and authentic communities falls into the broader work of Better Together 2030, a Johnson County visioning plan.

“The important thing for all of us is that communities are doing what's authentic to them and that we're supporting that community development,” Better Together 2030 executive director Cady Gerlach said.

“What works for Lone Tree or Swisher might not be authentic for Coralville, but we're going to support what makes that community special and what makes that community authentic to the residents who live there.”

Better Together 2030 includes four groups — Iowa City Area Development Group, Iowa City Downtown District, Think Iowa City and Iowa City Area Business Partnership — along with government, business and education leaders from other areas in the county.

Gerlach started in August 2022 to lead the long-term visioning project focused on improving Johnson County, as well as help implement the "All in Vision“ plan.

May 9: The Gazette Business Breakfast

Join The Gazette’s executive editor Zack Kucharski for a panel discussion on regional collaboration strategies at 8 a.m. Tuesday in the Geonetric Building, 415 12th Ave. SE, Cedar Rapids.

Starting during the pandemic, Johnson County entities collaborated to address quality-of-life issues and work on economic development through regional cooperation. They’ll talk about those efforts at the breakfast.

The $5 tickets include coffee and a light breakfast.

The “All in Vision” plan focuses on five pillars — environment, neighborhoods and districts, well-connected mobile region, inclusive economic ecosystem, and re-imagining social services — each with projects aimed at transforming the area.

Common themes across the county — whether it’s rural or urban area — are creating authentic neighborhoods and creating a sense of belonging and community, Gerlach said.

The All in Vision plan, she said, has room for everyone and “is owned by all of us.”

Better Together 2030 builds on the work of Project Better Together, which was the area’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and showed regional collaboration is possible and necessary for success.

Gerlach said building trust between those involved was one of the things that came out of the pandemic in 2020. Groups and communities “were able to take small steps together” and form an “intertwined web of representative leadership” instead of a hierarchy.

“We are just better when we are together,” Gerlach said. “ … We build the trust through actions and by showing up … but also ensuring that what we are there to do is what the community has asked for and is authentic to them.”

Rural development

Thompson, ICAD’s rural development director, has been helping the county’s smaller communities with their respective efforts, including revitalizing their downtowns. Thompson works for ICAD but her position is funded by Johnson County.

Thompson helped organize a downtown walk around Johnson County through the Iowa Economic Development Authority’s downtown resource center.

Members of the downtown resource center team walked through Hills, Lone Tree, Oxford, Swisher and Tiffin in March. Solon will have a downtown walk around later this month, Thompson said.

After walking through each downtown and talking to residents, the team compiled lists of strengths, challenges and recommendations and shared those with the respective towns.

Thompson also is working on forming a rural advisory committee in the coming months.

“What I'm hoping comes out of that ,” she said, “is a body that rural communities could go to for advice or they can come up with a list of best practices for communities, for businesses — maybe even some grant creation down the line that would help rural businesses or rural communities do some of the projects that they want to get done.”

Building trust

Part of Thompson’s role is to build trust and relationships with communities.

“For me, building trust is to come in and say, ‘I'm not here to tell you what to do. I'm here to help you do what you want to do,’” Thompson said, adding how she also attends meetings, answers questions honestly and gives ideas of what other rural communities have done.

When Ford connected with Thompson, she said the two of them had the same vision for Lone Tree.

“We both saw great things for our community,” Ford said.

Ford and others on the economic development team in Lone Tree have been talking about city ordinances encouraging downtown revitalization, how to improve the downtown landscape and how to encourage housing development.

Among the next steps, Thompson said, is to bring Gerlach to the communities in the coming months to share more about the All in Vision plan and how communities can use those ideas in their efforts.

The combination of those efforts — downtown revitalization, a rural advisory council and Better Together 2030 — is “all going to work hand in hand to make Johnson County a destination,” Thompson said.

She’d like people to be more aware of the events and efforts in smaller communities because “there’s a lot going on here.”

Rural communities, she added, present a lot of opportunity for entrepreneurs who want to start a business, noting Big Grove started in Solon and expanded to Iowa City, Des Moines and soon Cedar Rapids.

Efforts in Hills

Hills City Administrator Kelley Schlitz said there is a population coming into Hills for work that could support additional services downtown.

The downtown, she said, is anchored by Hills Bank, which has 200 people working there each day. Stutsman, an agricultural products and services company, brings in another 100 people.

“Some of them live here, but most of them don't,” Schlitz said.

Hills, population 863 in southern Johnson County, is part of the Hometown Pride program run by the East Central Iowa Council of Government. The program helps rural communities implement their plans and visions while also building a sense of pride.

Hills started hosting a food truck event once a month on Fridays, which has gotten good feedback so far, Schlitz said. Maggie’s Farm Pizza stopped by at the end of March.

The city also is trying to install bike racks and put matching flowerpots in front of downtown businesses. Some bigger ideas, Schlitz said, include walking trails and a small park on Main Street.

“We tried to brainstorm projects where we get a big bang for our buck, … projects that will make an impact and try to propel us into wanting to do bigger projects,” she said.

Swisher

The Swisher Action Committee also has been focusing on efforts that can improve downtown, business owner and resident Nikki Hynek said. Swisher, in northern Johnson County, has a population of 914.

The committee is a mix of business owners and residents, Hynek said.

Thompson has been helping the group identify strategies, resources and next steps, and has been an “incredible resource,” Hynek said.

“We're trying to work with (businesses) and the city to see what we can do to attract businesses downtown, improve it and make it better,” Hynek said.

Hynek said Swisher is in an “incredible position geographically,” being between Iowa City and Cedar Rapids. There is opportunity to highlight current businesses while supporting new efforts, Hynek said.

“We already have incredible businesses like Cedar Ridge Winery and Kava House, and so just recognizing that we have something really special and that we can continue our efforts to make it even better,” Hynek said.

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