Proposed Dallas County development includes large man-made lake

“You start to put hundreds of people out there, and the roads would have to be paved. 'This would be like a city, almost.”

A West Des Moines company has proposed a huge residential development in Dallas County that would surround a roughly 3,000-acre man-made lake. via Des Moines Register

[bob from panora]

When Lake Panorama was proposed, it was predicted to be a failure, and nay sayers had every kind of reasons why it would not work. Each evening the weather man shows a beautiful weather shot over the marina from the weather cam. It is one of the most beautiful places in Iowa. Give the developers a chance to show their proposal before they are shouted down. There are too few developers who are willing to take a chance on rural Iowa. Do we really want to tell them to take a leap without hearing their side?

[Property owner]

That is fine for a person that will not be affected by it to say. You would feel differently if I came in and told you we were taking your home and property that you had worked for all your life so someone else can have their "vacation in their backyard". They say that one size of lot (and they will not say what size, 1/2 acrea to 10 acreas) is $140,000. Their 5,000 lots will bring them in $700,000,000. This is an estimate, you know that they will make a lot more on location and size of the lots. You cannot tell me that money is not what it is for them. Once they bulldoze all the trees, trash the house, sink Kuehn, flood history, you can never get any of this back. Maybe we should find somewhere else to flood that would be a better choice than the Greenbelt of Dallas County.

[Country Lover]

From bob in panora: "There are too few developers who are willing to take a chance on rural Iowa"

But many of us who live in RURAL IOWA don't want them to take a chance on RURAL IOWA. We live in RURAL IOWA because it's RURAL. Many of us are sick and tired of city people coming out and imposing thier beliefs, wants and dreams upon us. This is our land, not theirs. If you want to dream on a lake, there are plenty already out there. Leave our perfectly good farmland, century farms, forests, wetlands and other natural habitats alone.

[Wolf52]

I agree.. and I live in New Jersey! Over-developement will mess you up almost every time. The developers, politicians and lawyers get rich. The residents get crowded a little more, flooded basements and other assorted natural disasters they didn't have before the "Progress" rolled over them like a bulldozer.

[Kevin5]

If you really want to stop any development: Build a bunch of hog confinements about every square mile. Problem solved. I see where there are a lot of confinements there isn't very many houses or people around.

[Kevin5]

bob from panora wrote:

Do we really want to tell them to take a leap without hearing their side?

Would you like to give up your home so someone else can make money and have a vacation home? Or would you rather invest in the land that will be at the bottom of the lake, only to have it taken away at a fraction of the price? Or better yet, convert your home into a parking lot for a shopping mall? For every millionaire, an unjust act was committed-legally!

[Dave]

I think they should dam up the Mississippi at the Misouri line and flood the whole state. Then the people from arizona would have a place to fish.