The Greene County Development Corporation Board met Tuesday in regular session.

The meeting began with an update of a possible solar farm project with National Grid Renewables. Representative Sidney Beck said the 150 megawatt project includes 1,300 acres about 1.5 miles south of Grand Junction. Beck mentioned applying for a conditional use permit through the county before starting the application process with the Iowa Utilities Board. She was hoping to start construction early next year, with the solar farm to be operational by the end of that same year.

During reports, the City of Jefferson closed on the new Stitch location at the former Pizza Ranch, as well as the Heartland Bank building was closed with Chris Deal and the White House Apartments renovations will be completed by April. Jefferson Matters: A Main Street and Chamber Community Executive Director Reegan Hanigan announced March 22nd as their second annual Community Appreciation Night at the Greene County High School Auditorium. 

GCDC Executive Director Ken Paxton gave a report. He talked about submitting a state grant to help pay for the Greene County Diversity Project, with attracting the Latino community to work and live in the county. He also mentioned a new business that will be locating in Greene County.

“Iowa Cover Crop is doing a warehouse south of Jefferson. Theirs in Gowrie was destroyed. They have looked around and I showed them a bunch of sites and tried to work with them, and they’ve decided to move to our county, which is wonderful. They’ll have 4-6 jobs down and nice to have a new employer coming into town.”

Paxton also talked about housing projects and how that could relate to attract Latinos and establishing housing in the smaller county towns.