Hometown Pride program outlines Newton-specific goals

If you’ve never been to Newton’s Thirty Acre Park, you probably know someone else who hasn’t been there, either.

The park might be considered one of many of Jasper County’s under-utilized places, and a recently formed coalition is taking on the task of getting more out of certain areas in seven county communities and helping beautify selected spots.

The Hometown Pride program is a sort of coalition of community civic planners, and it’s a statewide program funded by Keep Iowa Beautiful, and the program started to pick up steam in terms of articulating places and projects to be addressed in the five-year program.

Jeff Davidson was brought in after a long career in Iowa City to be the Jasper County “coach” for Hometown Pride. It was important to hire a coach that had no connections to the area, yet also a person with a background in grant writing, locating sources of funding and understanding how urban planning works.

“Newton is not only the biggest city in the county, and it’s a new type of territory for Hometown Pride,” Davidson said. “By population, it’s not only the biggest city in the program, it’s bigger than any county in the program. But I have no stake in any of the communities here; I just want to try and help point out the steps that need to take place to make things happen.”

Natalie Umsted is a management analyst for the City of Newton, and she’s also the chair of the county team’s steering committee. She said not only does Hometown Pride have the advantage of working with people who were already working toward similar goals with government or non-profit organizations, but the committee has also recently been able to come up with goals of its own.

Umsted said the First Avenue corridor, parks and downtown housing are the priority areas for the Newton committee, which is a committee within Hometown Pride.

“We have a long list of downtown goals,” Umsted said. “Keep Iowa Beautiful is focused on beautification, so there are many things we can do in the parks and along First Avenue.”

Hometown Pride must work toward goals that don’t conflict with the missions, goals or restrictions of the City of Newton or other entities, such as Newton Main Street, the Downtown Historical District, the Newton Historic Preservation Commission and others.

Umsted said possible projects discussed at recent meetings include a “multi-generational” park within Sunset Park, located near Skiff Medical Center. She also mentioned further development of Thirty Acre Park, located east of Newton KOA and between S. 13th Ave. E. and Interstate 80, which is currently an area of wild brush with a mowed trail running through the center.

There is a program involving University of Iowa urban planning students that could be used for parks, if the right grant is obtained, Umsted said.

The Newton committee for Hometown Pride is headed by realtor Bruce Showalter, and also features other longtime Newton residents, such as fine arts advocate Terri Ayres and Dairy Queen franchise owner Bob O’Brien.

Showalter said a big key, on the parks side, is to help keep every park somewhat unique, so that each one gets a close-to-equal amount of use. Like Umsted, he also brought up Thirty Acre Park, and said a mountain-bike trail have been discussed as ideas.

He also said it would be a great help for Newton to establish more one-of-a-kind items that can’t be found in other cities in the area.

“For a long time, the Maytag Park pool made it pretty unique,” Showalter said. “Now, some other cities around have built their own pools, and caught up. We need something like a water-fountain play park attached to that pool, that will help set Newton apart.”

Umsted, Showalter and Davidson all mentioned both the Maytag Hotel and the former Maytag offices when discussing downtown projects. While Hometown Pride might not necessarily be directly involved in a plan or finding funding for any major projects with those buildings, getting more people to live downtown is a priority of the committee.

Umsted said having Davidson, who spent 34 years working for the Iowa City government before he was hired in March to coach the Jasper County team, has been an essential move. Not only does he have many contacts and knowledge about grants and grant writing, but his energy also has an impact.

“Jeff has been a great fit for us,” Umsted said. “He brings in new ideas, helps us move forward, and sees Jasper County as a great place to be — and he’s so enthusiastic.”

Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com