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http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050610/NEWS/506100316/1001
A report released this week is largely supportive of a proposed town for people who use sign language but raises the issue of whether the South Dakota School for the Deaf in Sioux Falls could handle the resulting influx of students.
According to the report, 120 individuals and families are on the reservation list to buy or rent homes in Laurent, which would be at the southeast corner of the Salem interchange on Interstate 90.
Planners expect the town to reach 2,500 or more residents in 10 to 15 years.
Officials estimate that 40 percent to 60 percent of the town's school-age children will be hearing students.
"We don't know the extent to which (programs) will be affected by the Laurent project," said Maureen Schloss, president of the School for the Deaf. "If they tell us they will have 100 (students), that is something to take to the Board of Regents."
Schloss said the school's enrollment is 61 students, with 209 students in its outreach program. Some are involved in both, skewing the numbers, and not all are full-time students, she noted.
Schloss said 48 students are enrolled in the school's bilingual program with an emphasis on American Sign Language. The school can handle 80 students in that area, she said.
Regents Executive Director Tad Perry said in the report that the School for the Deaf easily could add 100 students without needing more state money or any major adjustments.
The report, prepared by Joe Bartmann, Greater McCook Development Alliance director, was proposed after area farmers came forward with concerns about how the town would affect their livelihood. It reflects support from officials and experts' predictions of economic benefits, but Bartmann said it isn't meant to serve as the economic-impact study requested by the county board and area residents.
The Laurent Co. will invest at least $200 million during construction and requested no financial incentives.
Bartmann said construction funds would pay for building a new Laurent school district.
Salem might work with Laurent to bring water from a Turner McCook Rural Water pipeline at Dolton to Laurent and Salem. The potential cost of building a 10-mile pipeline to the Laurent site is $3 million.
Salem Mayor Robin Rayman said Thursday that the city is studying its water supply and system because of rust and other problems. Two options are for the city to build its own filtration system or for it to pay to extend the Turner-McCook pipeline from Laurent to Salem. City engineers from a Mitchell firm will give results at the end of July, Rayman said.
Area business owners are concerned about competition from Laurent businesses, but Bruce Johnson, University of Nebraska-Lincoln agricultural economist, said maintaining retail volume and variety in rural areas is vital to keep more customers buying at home and compete with larger markets.
The Laurent Co. will create clusters of sign-language-related businesses, such as video-relay centers, tourist services and public safety and medical research and product development, according to the report.
Some local businesses already are making plans to create new jobs in the wake of the town's construction. R&S Sanitation owner Todd Snyders said he will buy more construction rubble containers and add a truck driver.
"It depends on how fast they build and (new residents) move in," he said.
Mary Cerney of the state Governor's Office of Economic Development said an independent economic study of Laurent is difficult because it is a project with few concrete numbers and few, if any, comparable projects.
Bartmann said he found only two other cities - Seaside and Celebration, Fla. - that used the same design principles as Laurent.
"There is no other town in this world for sign language," he said.
Barney Roling, a member of McCook Citizens United, a group of farmers and business owners concerned about how Laurent will affect them, said he thought the report was accurate.
"Through our studies and our research so far, everything is pretty much on the money," he said of the report.
Laurent co-founder M.E. Barwacz credited Bartmann for gaining as much information he could find.
"I certainly appreciate how well documented it is," she said.
A report released this week is largely supportive of a proposed town for people who use sign language but raises the issue of whether the South Dakota School for the Deaf in Sioux Falls could handle the resulting influx of students.
According to the report, 120 individuals and families are on the reservation list to buy or rent homes in Laurent, which would be at the southeast corner of the Salem interchange on Interstate 90.
Planners expect the town to reach 2,500 or more residents in 10 to 15 years.
Officials estimate that 40 percent to 60 percent of the town's school-age children will be hearing students.
"We don't know the extent to which (programs) will be affected by the Laurent project," said Maureen Schloss, president of the School for the Deaf. "If they tell us they will have 100 (students), that is something to take to the Board of Regents."
Schloss said the school's enrollment is 61 students, with 209 students in its outreach program. Some are involved in both, skewing the numbers, and not all are full-time students, she noted.
Schloss said 48 students are enrolled in the school's bilingual program with an emphasis on American Sign Language. The school can handle 80 students in that area, she said.
Regents Executive Director Tad Perry said in the report that the School for the Deaf easily could add 100 students without needing more state money or any major adjustments.
The report, prepared by Joe Bartmann, Greater McCook Development Alliance director, was proposed after area farmers came forward with concerns about how the town would affect their livelihood. It reflects support from officials and experts' predictions of economic benefits, but Bartmann said it isn't meant to serve as the economic-impact study requested by the county board and area residents.
The Laurent Co. will invest at least $200 million during construction and requested no financial incentives.
Bartmann said construction funds would pay for building a new Laurent school district.
Salem might work with Laurent to bring water from a Turner McCook Rural Water pipeline at Dolton to Laurent and Salem. The potential cost of building a 10-mile pipeline to the Laurent site is $3 million.
Salem Mayor Robin Rayman said Thursday that the city is studying its water supply and system because of rust and other problems. Two options are for the city to build its own filtration system or for it to pay to extend the Turner-McCook pipeline from Laurent to Salem. City engineers from a Mitchell firm will give results at the end of July, Rayman said.
Area business owners are concerned about competition from Laurent businesses, but Bruce Johnson, University of Nebraska-Lincoln agricultural economist, said maintaining retail volume and variety in rural areas is vital to keep more customers buying at home and compete with larger markets.
The Laurent Co. will create clusters of sign-language-related businesses, such as video-relay centers, tourist services and public safety and medical research and product development, according to the report.
Some local businesses already are making plans to create new jobs in the wake of the town's construction. R&S Sanitation owner Todd Snyders said he will buy more construction rubble containers and add a truck driver.
"It depends on how fast they build and (new residents) move in," he said.
Mary Cerney of the state Governor's Office of Economic Development said an independent economic study of Laurent is difficult because it is a project with few concrete numbers and few, if any, comparable projects.
Bartmann said he found only two other cities - Seaside and Celebration, Fla. - that used the same design principles as Laurent.
"There is no other town in this world for sign language," he said.
Barney Roling, a member of McCook Citizens United, a group of farmers and business owners concerned about how Laurent will affect them, said he thought the report was accurate.
"Through our studies and our research so far, everything is pretty much on the money," he said of the report.
Laurent co-founder M.E. Barwacz credited Bartmann for gaining as much information he could find.
"I certainly appreciate how well documented it is," she said.