April 2016

Wall Economic Development Blog

The past two weeks have been exciting for the Wall Economic Development Corporation (WEDC). I had originally planned to post on a monthly basis, however, due to all the excitement we have been experiencing lately, I just could not wait to post an update!

On April 1, WEDC established a Board of Directors:

• President Marty Huether
• Vice President Mary Williams
• Secretary/Treasurer Dani Herring
• Carolynn Anderson
• Josh Geigle
• Dave Olson
• Cindy Schuler

With the establishment of a Board of Directors, we were able to adopt Articles of Incorporation to submit to the Secretary of State. On April 11, we received our official Certificate of Incorporation from the Secretary of State, meaning we are officially the Wall Economic Development Corporation. This is a huge step for our organization! We can now move forward with applying for 501 (c) 6 nonprofit, tax exempt status. This truly opens the door for the future of WEDC and Wall.

In my previous blog, I discussed the priorities of WEDC: housing, business retention and expansion, and community development. Today, I am going to share how we are addressing Wall’s housing needs.

#1 Housing 

As a committee, we identified early on that housing is a primary concern in Wall. This was reflected through community and business surveys as well as a community analysis.

To address housing needs, we set several goals. The first goal was to secure funding for a housing needs study. The study will assess present and future unmet housing needs to aide community decision makers and the public in developing a meaningful sense of the market in Wall as well as an understanding of key housing issues. The study will address anticipated economic, employment and population change throughout the next two to 15 years. It will make recommendations for short-to-mid-term housing demand, long-term housing demand, new construction, rehab, senior housing, family housing, rental and homeownership. The study will provide a platform based on solid research that we can use to approach the necessary resources and discuss the best plan to address Wall's housing needs. 

WEDC received $2,500 from a South Dakota Housing Development Authority cost-sharing incentive program to conduct a housing needs study. The City of Wall will provide the cost-sharing match. I will work closely with Community Partners Research, Inc. of Faribault, Minnesota, who will conduct the study. The researchers will need to engage the community throughout the research process, so please watch for updates and community meetings. We hope to begin in early May. I am looking forward to the completion of the housing needs study and learning from the researchers. 

In my next blog post, I will discuss what I learned last week at the Governor’s Office of Economic Development Conference, what I will learn at the Heartland Basic Economic Development Training next week and share what WEDC is doing to address our second priority, business retention and expansion.

As always, thank you for being such a great community. It is because of you that we have it all in Wall! 

Cheyenne McGriff

Wall Economic Development Director
(605) 279-2658
walledd@gwtc.net