KMEG 14 - News, Weather, Sports for Sioux City and Siouxland | Liberty Industrial Park Meets Disapproval From Local Landowners

Liberty Industrial Park Meets Disapproval From Local Landowners

Monday night, landowners had the chance to determine the next step of a huge piece of Siouxland's economic puzzle.

It's a proposed 2,700 acre business park in Woodbury County, and Monday night landowners and developers hashed out the details.

It was standing room only Monday night at Sergeant Bluff's City Hall.

More than 100 folks came together to hear plans for the proposed Liberty Industrial Park, and the feeling of the crowd was one of overwhelming disapproval.

Officials with the project outlined what to expect out of the industrial park and it's no surprise, one of the biggest issues of the night: the future of the Port Neal interchange.

Some plans call for a new interchange, just north of Port Neal, which may better connect the new industrial park along with Sioux City's Southbridge industrial park that's currently under construction.

Officials Monday night warned, a new interchange is only one possibility, and in the end Port Neal might not have to move at all.

Many landowners are concerned about losing farms and homes, so some are dismissing the project altogether in favor of Sioux City's Southbridge.

"The industrial park needs to stay on that side of the interstate," says Mark Godfredson, a landowner from Sergeant Bluff. "Lets get some industry in there, nothing's going in yet, I hope it does because they put a lot of money down there, but lets just keep it there and forget about this Liberty Park. Lets keep it going down there where they've already got the structure started."

"We need the Port Neal exit where it's at," says Mike Patterson, of Sloan, IA. "It's served us all for 50 years and a lot of businesses."

A lot of this discussion stems from the Iowa DOT. The DOT says that there can be only one interchange in the area and basically it's up to the public to decide where to go from here.

From here on out it's definitely going to be a long process.

There are going to be quite a few more landowner meetings, just trying to decide what the public wants to get out of Liberty Industrial Park.

Basically, all discussion has a timeline of 6 months, that's how long the DOT has given to present a plan for the Port Neal interchange.