No, I’m not referring to Highways 15 and 55. I mean that the entire Kimball area – at least a five-mile radius around Kimball – is at a critical point of time in its development. After years of gradual decline – as evidenced by a net loss of population in the last census and vacant buildings along Main Street for years – we’re experiencing a big growth spurt. Housing is booming, business is booming, Kimball is growing. The question we face today, then, is growing into what? We can easily develop into a “bedroom community” where families and individuals sleep here but work and conduct business elsewhere. All we have to do is nothing. Or we can work to make Kimball a vibrant and thriving community, where people can live, go to school, work, play and shop. It will take a lot of research, planning, and cooperation among area communities and governments to do this. But, oh, what benefit there is for us all! o More houses in Kimball increases the tax base: more tax money brought in to pay city expenses or, more aptly put, city expenses spread over more households. o More children in the community means more money for the school district. o More business in the community means more jobs, more taxes paid, and more goods and services locally available to residents. Sounds easy, right? A giant problem, though, is deciding what kinds of homes and businesses will go where. You probably wouldn’t want houses right next door to a 24-hour-a-day manufacturing facility, a stockyard or a sewer treatment plant. And you don’t want to have to build new, heavy-duty roads to industries located far off our highways. There needs to be a comprehensive plan for what local residents want and don’t want in our community. Then, when a business or developer comes knocking on Kimball’s door, they will either fit with our plan, adjust to our plan (or we adjust our plan to them), or they will need to look elsewhere. So here are some questions to ponder: What do we want here? What do we not want here? And who is going to decide that? I commend the Kimball City Council for wanting to set up a planning committee to look at these questions. I encourage them to try again to establish a long-term planning and advisory committee, but this time to be more inclusive. The ill-fated first committee (which was disbanded before it ever met) was limited exclusively to residents within the city limits of Kimball. The Kimball community, however, is far broader than the city limits. Including representatives from business (most Kimball business owners happen to live outside city limits but do pay Kimball taxes) and from all surrounding townships would be a good start. Time is of the essence; this can’t wait a year or two. There’s no harm in planning – but not planning could be disastrous. Kimball will always be. Our location at the crossroads of 15 and 55 assure that. What we do (or don’t do) today will determine whether Kimball will develop into just a group of new homes, or into a vibrant, active community of individuals who live here in every sense of the word. We’re at a historic crossroads, and where we go is up to us. P.S. Come to the Early Childhood meeting next Tuesday to see one way planning for the future helps us all. (See story on page 1.)
