Red Oak is a small Southwest Iowa community of approximately 6,300 people, located about 50 miles southeast of the growing Omaha, NE metropolitan area. The community, though small in size, is the county seat of Montgomery County and features prominent civic facilities and a diverse base of small industries that make it both a social and economic hub for the area. 

Red Oak residents and community leaders had worked to catalyze projects that laid the groundwork for broader efforts aimed at enhancing and maintaining the city’s quality of life. A new YMCA, an expanding regional medical complex, and new and expanded educational facilities are just some of the recent accomplishments that were breeding optimism for Red Oak’s future.

Still, residents and community leaders were concerned about the community’s future. The downtown and Broadway/Plaza areas, in particular, did not reflect the same sense of pride, progress and prosperity that are otherwise apparent in the recent accomplishments and rich character of this community. Retail sales leakage, labor market supply issues, limited housing options and a “graying” population were among the chief concerns as Red Oak approached the future.

DPN worked with the community to define Red Oak's desired economic profile, to analyze current market conditions, and to chart a course for strategic actions and initiatives that will help Red Oak achieve its desired profile – its vision. The planning effort culminated in the synthesis of the plan's strategic and physical components, and the development of priority strategies that advance:

Downtown Revitalization and Redevelopment.  Ultimately, the directions posed by the Strategy Plan aim at restoring downtown as the heart of the Red Oak community.  It strives to create an experience of a great small town, using the building blocks of the downtown as its foundation and adding new features that enhance that experience.  The plan endeavors to aggregate elements – mixing uses and activities into the tightest, most compact district to create the energy and vitality that people envision for downtown Red Oak.  It focuses on an experience that is pedestrian in scale, oriented to activities beyond commerce, and is authentic – a real experience.

Broadway Avenue Redevelopment.  The community sees value in the patterns of downtown, but the development and retail community see value in the patterns of more highway oriented commercial uses.  The plan strives for a marriage of both so that a more positive reflection of the community is evidenced along Broadway while opportunities for doing business in Red Oak are enhanced, not compromised.  The plan recognizes that change will occur slowly along Broadway.  While evidence of change might be visible in a reconstructed road and aesthetic improvements along its edges, wholesale change will be more difficult to achieve.  And while a new road and a tree-lined edge will be important features of Broadway’s future, it is the pattern of development that will change how this important part of the community works.  In this effort, increments of change are anticipated, so that in 10 or 15 years, one can look back to see that today’s actions have had a positive impact.

Red Oak Creek offers a chance to reclaim a bit of nature that has been lost, and to reclaim it in ways that bolster downtown’s business climate and creates a place for families and children.

The aggregation of mixed uses within a compact area and business clustering strategies keying on a new downtown activity generator are critical to re-creating energy and vitality in the downtown. 

The town square is the community’s most prominent and distinguishing feature. There is a great deal of opportunity for downtown to evolve consistent with the ideals of a great small town downtown.

The Village Marketplace concept design for Broadway takes cues from downtown patterns to promote a more unique sense of Red Oak’s heritage and small town character. A zoning overlay ordinance would provide a valuable tool for efforts to improve the corridor’s aesthetics and nurture its economic potential.