Newton now a Main Street Community

“For your communities, the real work begins now,” Gov. Terry Branstad told the cities who were announced as the new Iowa Main Street communities.

At 1:40 p.m., Branstad welcomed Newton as one of the three newest Main Street Iowa communities. State Rep. Dan Kelley and State Sen. Dennis Black were in attendance at the State Capitol and had a chance to join Newton in the celebration.

“This is very positive for Newton, and there’s a tremendous history to our main street. It’s clear that the entire state recognizes that with our recognition today as a Main Street Community,” Kelley said. “This can only mean great things for our future and maintaining the high quality of life in our community.”

Black has been a representative of the Newton community in the Iowa Senate for the past 32 years and was a co-author of the Iowa Main Street program.

“If Newton can accomplish what Colfax has with its Main Street, which I believe it can, people will be excited for the future of Newton,” Black said. “I knew Newton would become a Main Street Community. Once the decision was made, I had a conversation with the Governor about the difficulty Newton has gone through in the past and how much this will help the City of Newton.”

Main Street Iowa’s State Coordinator Michael Wagler gave some of the key points that helped Newton obtain admission as a Main Street Iowa community.

“Newton has a sustainable commitment to really looking at itself in the future whether it be from the national registration, the SSMID District, and the comprehensive plan really highlighted downtown revitalization as a key priority of not only the city, but also the community through the public input process,” Wagler said. “Newton shows to have a broad base of community support and really the broad base of community support is what it takes to make this program very successful.”

U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack was thrilled to hear the news about Newton becoming a Main Street Community.

“All across Iowa, people visit local main streets to meet their friends and family at a diner, shop at one of the small businesses or take a stroll through town. I am very pleased that Newton was chosen as a Main Street Community to help revitalize their downtown,” he wrote. “I know it took a lot of hard work, and I was honored to have provided support for Newton’s application. Main streets are the cornerstone of many Iowa towns and this announcement will help the community move forward. I have seen firsthand the positive impact these grants have on communities like Newton, and I look forward to many great things coming from today’s exciting announcement.”

Mayor Mike Hansen was also present at the ceremony.

“We are extremely delighted to be selected as a Main Street Community,” Hansen said. “It really fits in with our total agenda for 2014-2015 and going forward. It really complements the comprehensive plan and what we need in the downtown area. We have always been blessed with a ton of volunteers, a great city staff and Chamber organization that saw this as an opportunity to move our downtown forward.

Newton Planning and Zoning Director Erin Chambers played a key role in the process by filling out the application and organizing the presentation.

“It’s very exciting, I am very excited for what is in store for Newton in 2014,” Chambers said. “I am excited for what Main Street can bring us with the extra capacity of 40 hours of a dedicated staff person each week focusing on just the downtown projects and pair that with all the exciting initiatives going on in the city of Newton.”

Chambers invested an additional 20 to 30 hours per week for a good month on the application process herself with the help of the Main Street Committee members.

“I have been very excited and happy to work on the application as a professionally trained urban planner, this is the sort of thing I get very excited to work on,” Chambers said. “There has been a lot of hours poured into this application and represents a lot of work that we have done immediately, but also in the five years leading up to this effort.”

The community help of Main Street was represented by many seasoned Newton citizens and leaders, but was also represented by new faces of the community, such as The Foundation for Iowa Jaycees Charity member Angie Taylor. Taylor moved here in September and took a temporary position at the Chamber office in November before the kickoff event of Main Street application process.

“It’s very exciting, Newton has so much potential and its a thriving young community and seeing what great things can come to the future of Newton to bring young families back to the community makes this a right step for Newton,” Taylor said.

Greater Newton Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Darrell Sarmento, along with the Chamber had taken the reigns of the application process. Sarmento has been updating the community on the Main Street effort since the kick off on Nov. 7 at Capitol II Theatre.

“This is great news for Newton, I think the community of Newton should be proud and now we have a lot of work to do, but we have a lot of help doing it,” Sarmento said. “We have people that have walked this road before in terms of helping communities revitalize their downtown. They have a proven track record. I want to encourage the community to remember that revitalizing a downtown takes time. The work we’re doing now, we hope to see results in the next few years for some communities it takes 10 to 20 years to realize the type of downtown they wanted to have, but we are anxious to roll up our sleeves and get to work.”

Staff writer Zach Johnson may be contacted at (641) 792-3121, ext. 425, or at zjohnson@newtondailynews.com.