The County owned Alliant Energy Center represents 164 acres at a prominent gateway to our City. The transformation of the campus into a vital, walkable, mixed-use district as proposed in The Alliant Energy Center Campus Master Plan will provide a sense of arrival to our community and an improved connection to our thriving downtown. The type of infill development envisioned in the plan is in line with the City’s goals for strategic growth that uses land more efficiently and takes advantage of the City’s natural assets and existing infrastructure. Both public and private investment are critical to implementation of the plan. While the County will be responsible for implementation of the public campus improvements, the City will support private development that will deliver hotel rooms, commercial space, retail and restaurants.

The size of The Alliant Energy Center and its location next to one of our lakes makes it an ideal location for a demonstration project for environmental sustainability with particular attention to storm water management. I hope that the County will go beyond the standard requirements and incorporate state of the art storm water systems into its public campus improvements.