Disclosing Name of Company Would Be Premature

By Mike Blouin President, Greater Dubuque Development Corp

A Telegraph Herald editorial (March 30) expressed concern regarding the Dubuque County Board of Supervisors and its rezoning of land next to the city of Farley, Iowa. The newspaper thinks the board should have disclosed the identity of the company interested in the land.

I agree that information impacting the public should be made available as early as possible, which is exactly what will happen in this case. However, we have not reached that point yet. This is why we have zoning laws. Local governments, as a matter of public policy, declare their formal wish to dedicate certain land for certain uses – some residential, some commercial, some agricultural, some industrial, etc. We do this to ensure proper development of our communities.

In most cases, when a zoning plan is adopted or amended, we don’t know who may wish to develop the land. That comes later, as development takes place. This is the approach that the city of Dubuque used with the Dubuque Industrial Center West and the Dubuque Technology Park. The land was set aside by public action, then graded and enhanced to attract targeted industry. As firms decided to expand in those areas, the City Council discussed and voted on the matters in a public meeting that allowed for full disclosure, debate and input.

This is what Dubuque County supervisors are doing in Farley. No decision to move forward with a project has been made. The county is putting the pieces in place to allow Farley to move ahead in a public process, if and when the company/prospect decides to locate there.

The prospect still is looking seriously at other locations. Dubuque County is only one of the options. In the other cases, the land is already zoned for their needs. Those decisions were made by those local governments well before anyone heard about this company. Dubuque County is trying to catch up with our competition.

By design, Iowa law specifically allows economic development negotiations to be conducted in private, until a company makes a decision. Then the process becomes public, providing an opportunity for any citizen to say “yes” or “no” before the elected officials say “yes” or “no.” That is the time to hold the county board of supervisors accountable with respect to specific projects.

This system has worked well for many years. It has allowed for proper, planned growth to take place in a public atmosphere, while allowing for confidentiality when initial negotiations take place, so Iowa can compete.

For various reasons, companies insist on early confidentiality. If we are to compete with other communities across the country and around the world, we need to respect this wish, just as the companies need to respect the public’s right to input before final actions are taken.

The board of supervisors has found a creative way to walk the line between the need for confidentiality and the need for public disclosure. I thank them and commend them for their action.

Before joining Greater Dubuque Development Corp. in January 2007, Blouin, a former congressman, was director of the Iowa Department of Economic Development. His e-mail address is mikeb@greaterdubuque.org.

(c) 2008 Telegraph – Herald (Dubuque). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.