The meeting minutes summarized a steering committee meeting for the Heartland 2050 regional planning initiative. Over 500 participants had attended workshops across the region. Values analysis was underway to inform scenario creation. Four scenarios were presented from a similar Envision Utah process: significant sprawl, growth by current plans, rational compact development, and new urbanist development with transit. Input from workshops and other sources would inform developing three to four scenarios for Heartland 2050. A SWOT analysis identified regional strengths like education and Offutt Air Force Base, weaknesses around industrial land and perceptions of Omaha, opportunities in research and strategic growth, and threats like rising costs of living. Subcommittees would further review values, scenarios, and SWOT analysis.

1. MEETING MINUTES
Steering Committee Meeting 5:
Workshop Review/SWOT
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Friday, November 8, 2013
Scott Conference Center
Omaha, Nebraska
Steering Committee Members
See attached Steering Committee attendance identifying who was present/absent
Staff
Greg Youell, MAPA; Lynn Dittmer, MAPA; Clint Sloss, MAPA; Jeff Spiehs, MAPA;
Katrina Lane, Waitt Co
A.
Welcome
Greg Youell, MAPA Executive Director
o Our team has just completed two rounds of workshops – with a great turn out from
across the region – we’ll be over 500 participants
• Pottawattamie - Oct. 7 — Mid-America Center
• Mills Oct. 8 — Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Church, Glenwood
• Cass Oct. 8 — Plattsmouth State Bank
• Sarpy Oct. 9 — Papillion South High School
• Washington Oct. 9 — Blair City Council Chambers
• Saunders Oct. 10 — Wahoo Performing Arts Center
• Harrison Oct. 10 — Rand Center, Missouri Valley
• Douglas - Nov. 5 — Burke High School
• Omaha - November 4 - Yates Community Center – Multi-cultural
• Belleview – November 4 – Bellevue University
• Downtown Omaha - Nov. 5 — KANEKO
• Freemont – November 6 – High School
• Southeast Metro - Nov. 6 — Kroc Center
• East Pottawattamie - Nov. 6 — Oakland Community Center
• Northeast Metro - Nov. 7 — Lake Point Community Center
• Midtown Omaha - Nov. 7 — Lewis & Clark Middle School
• Additional workshops for Malvern, IA and Gretna, NE upcoming December
o Update on the Equity and Engagement Committee
• Role: to ensure traditionally underrepresented people are included in the
Heartland process
• Hosted a workshop at the Yates Community Center for immigrants and
refugees – 50 participants, and over 10 languages
• Will review the draft scenarios with an equity focus
2222 Cuming Street
Omaha, NE 68102
(402) 444-6866
www.heartland2050.org

2. MEETING MINUTES
Steering Committee Meeting 5:
Workshop Review/SWOT
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Friday, November 8, 2013
Scott Conference Center
Omaha, Nebraska
o Update on Values Analysis
• MAPA is working with Heart & Mind Strategies to ascertain regional values,
which will influence scenario creation
• All Steering Committee members are encouraged to participate in the first stage
of the values effort. Invitations will be emailed.
o Advanced Strategy Online, November 21, 3:30 to 5:00pm
B. Forming the Scenarios
John Fregonese, Fregonese & Associates
o Considering long-term strategy, where do we go from here?
o Envision Utah example- In the Salt Lake region, workshop findings indicated strong
preference for:
• Infill
• Rail transit
• Walkable development
• Critical lands for conservation
• Wasatch Back – limit development on eastern slopes of Wasatch Range
o Created four scenarios for public review:
• Significant sprawl
• Growth based on current plans
• Rational, compact development
• New urbanist development, significant transit
o Key indicators used to compare scenarios:
• Cost of infrastructure, types of housing, transportation – among others
o Keys to the success of Envision Utah process:
• Belief that the region could benefit from working together in an area that had
never worked together before
• Public awareness campaign after the plan
• Behind the scenes – gaining support from key stakeholders
• Leadership, a coalition of non-partisan politicians ran on common platform
based on the vision
2222 Cuming Street
Omaha, NE 68102
(402) 444-6866
www.heartland2050.org

3. MEETING MINUTES
Steering Committee Meeting 5:
Workshop Review/SWOT
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Friday, November 8, 2013
Scott Conference Center
Omaha, Nebraska
C. Next Phase of Heartland 2050 Forming the Scenarios
John Fregonese, Fregonese & Associates
o Project is shifting from operational mode to strategic mode
o What are our goals? What are we going to bring people together for?
o Heartland scenario inputs:
• Regional workshops
• Neighborhood & small area workshops
• Data inputs, research – scenarios are based on data, to give a range of plausible
versions of the future
• Regional values
o Community leaders ASO
o Resident ASO
o Values survey
• Developer interviews
A subcommittee of Steering Committee members will review the online values survey
instrument before it goes to the public in January 2014.
D. SWOT Analysis Discussion
Abe Farkas, EcoNorthwest
o Abe reviewed the findings from our Omaha Chamber SWOT Analysis
o The Steering Committee commented and added additional input shown in the
tables below
2222 Cuming Street
Omaha, NE 68102
(402) 444-6866
www.heartland2050.org

4. MEETING MINUTES
Steering Committee Meeting 5:
Workshop Review/SWOT
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Friday, November 8, 2013
Scott Conference Center
Omaha, Nebraska
Strengths
Weaknesses
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Great education system, including
universities
Offutt Air Force Base – largest employer;
large economic impact; brings technology
and connections to defense and aero
industries; with new practical spinoff
applications
Medical community – moving to a higher
level; research and innovation (Creighton
and UNO)
Low unemployment
Low cost of living
Philanthropic support and cooperation
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2222 Cuming Street
Omaha, NE 68102
Low unemployment can be a challenge for
companies to find talented workers
High unemployment in minority
communities
Despite strong educations system, bottom
segment of high school graduates are not
prepared for higher education
o Need for skill development to
increase employment potential
Need for bridge programs serving adult
learners to train for employment – need to
create more pipelines and help move people
through
Need to assess Industrial zoning across the
region
o Land currently zoned industrial
may be far away and better suited
for “older” industries – potential lack
of appropriate industrial land for
new and emerging industries
Perverse incentive to over-zone retail, not
driven by actual market demand.
o Potential need is ~5-6K acres
regionally, but currently zoned land
is up to ~16K acres
Omaha is perceived as two cities: suburban
and urban – which can create some
tensions; two cultures in the community
Need to dissolve the border across to Iowa
Inability to raise property and sales taxes –
to address the things that will need public
support
Low taxes are a positive (low cost of living
and doing business), but current funding
levels may not be sustainable to continue to
deliver infrastructure and services at the
level residents expect
(402) 444-6866
www.heartland2050.org

5. MEETING MINUTES
Steering Committee Meeting 5:
Workshop Review/SWOT
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Friday, November 8, 2013
Scott Conference Center
Omaha, Nebraska
Opportunities
Threats
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Ability to capitalize and commercialize
medical research
Possibility to expand industrial land zoning
and industrial land holdings strategically
o For example: the Port of Portland
can hold land strategically for long
periods of time; “Patient Capital”
(held long-term)
Target jobs where you receive on the job
training, and grow as an employee, upward
mobility (EX logistics field) – should include
paths that include those who don’t go onto
higher education
Work to attract young talent, potential to
draw nationally
Market for local food, high quality
agriculture; existing infrastructure already
in place
Air Force Base: US 34 bridge connecting
Mills County and Sarpy County – where
traditionally we’ve seen limited growth,
mostly rural housing and agriculture, now
the possibility of much more residential and
commercial development
Partnership opportunities:
o Public-Private
o Public-Public (for example, Bellevue
and AFB)
Tax package– possible package of what
you’re signing onto (more certainty) – need
for unified vision between public, private
and philanthropic sectors
People need to see what they’re getting for
the tax increase – how it fits the vision
Philanthropic Support –
o So much capacity for bolstering the
community vision
o Support for infrastructure
2222 Cuming Street
Omaha, NE 68102
Low unemployment + low cost of living –
must be careful of inflating cost of living if
growth rate skyrockets in the near future –
Austin, TX is a bellwether, now
experiencing high housing prices and long
commutes
(402) 444-6866
www.heartland2050.org

6. MEETING MINUTES
Steering Committee Meeting 5:
Workshop Review/SWOT
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Friday, November 8, 2013
Scott Conference Center
Omaha, Nebraska
E. Closing Comments
Dana Bradford, Waitt
Dana Bradford closed the meeting by noting the need for continued involvement in
regional visioning the process
o Development of three subcommittees to review and provide further input
o (1) SWOT, (2) Values Analysis and (3) Scenario Development
o Similar to Research Teams
o Co-Chairs and Staff will assign Steering Committee members and determine
outcomes for each subcommittee
o Will send out separate email with further instructions and details
The next meeting is scheduled Friday, January 31, 2014 at the Scott Conference Center
@ 10:00AM.
2222 Cuming Street
Omaha, NE 68102
(402) 444-6866
www.heartland2050.org

7. Heartland 2050
Steering Committee
Name
Dr. Kenneth Bird
Mary Ann Borgeson
Dana Bradford
David Brown
Tim Burke
Mike Cassling
Dick Christie
Barry Cleaveland
Sandy Dodge
Todd Foje
Mikki Frost
Lynn Grobe
Tom Hanafan
Frank Hayes
Dave Johnson
Doug Kindig
Dan Kinney
Ron Kohn
Stuart Krejci
Steve Kruger
Clark Lauritzen
Amy Lindsay
Dave Lutton
Bob McCarthy
Bruce McCauley
Othello Meadows
Heath Mello
Jim Peterson
Vicki Quates-Ferris
Carolina Quezada
BJ Reed
Dick Reiser
Tom Richards
Daniel Ritter
November 8, 2013
Title/Organization
President & CEO, Avenue Scholars Foundation
Commissioner, Douglas County, Nebraska
CEO, Waitt Company
CEO, Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce
Executive VP, Omaha Public Power District
CEO, CQuence Health Group
Executive Director, Metropolitan Omaha Education Consortium
Commissioner, Iowa Transportation Commission
CEO, NP Dodge Real Estate
CEO, Great Plains Communications
Director, Human Resources, City of Omaha
Supervisor, Pottawattamie County, Iowa
Mayor, City of Council Bluffs
President, Hayes & Associates, L.L.C.
Business Manager, Mid-American Energy
Mayor, City of La Vista, Nebraska
President, Iowa Western Community College
Supervisor, Mills County, Iowa
Senior Vice President, First National Bank of Wahoo
Commissioner, Washington County, Nebraska
President, First National Bank Wealth Management
Board Member, Metropolitan Utilities District
Commissioner, Saunders County, Nebraska
President, McCarthy Construction
Interim Director, 55th Civil Engineer Squadron, USAF - Offutt Air Force Base
Executive Director, 75 North Revitalization, Inc.
Senator, Metropolitan Community College
Commissioner, Cass County, Nebraska
African American Empowerment Network
Executive Director, Latino Center of the Midlands
Dean, University of Nebraska at Omaha
VP, Werner Trucking
Commissioner, Sarpy County, Nebraska
Student, Mayor’s Youth Leadership Commission
1
Attendance?
Alternate
X
X
Jame Berglund
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
April Gray
X
X
X
X
X

8. Heartland 2050
Steering Committee
Name
Rita Sanders
Randolph Scott
Clifford Scott
Sarah Sjolie
Bob Smith
Connie Spellman
Jean Stothert
Jerry Torczon
Pete Tulipana
Andrea Tullos
Linda Washburn
Michael Young
November 8, 2013
Title/Organization
Mayor, City of Bellevue, Nebraska
Director, Organizational Outreach at Father Flanagan's Boys' Home
CEO, Omaha Housing Authority
Director, Community Benefits & Healthier Communities, Alegent Health Systems
Supervisor, Harrison County, Iowa
Executive Director, Omaha by Design
Mayor, City of Omaha, Nebraska
Birchwood Homes, Inc.
Executive Director, Iowa West Foundation
Colonel, Offutt Air Force Base - 55th Support Group
Executive Director, Glenwood Area Chamber of Commerce
Chair, Metro Transit
2
Attendance?
X
X
X
X
Alternate