If every city has one big chance to go for the gusto, this is it for Waukee.
City officials, developers and landowners have eyed a big patch of dirt that runs from University Avenue south to Interstate 80 for the better part of a decade, all with an eye to its future uses for retail and office parks and more of those homes that seem to grow overnight in a city noted for its explosive growth.
But they have not wanted growth at the cost of willy-nilly development.
"It is hard to describe what a great opportunity this is," Waukee City Administrator Tim Moerman said, adding that the city did not want to take a piecemeal approach to developing the area.
The city unveiled its vision for the area today. It has been called the Alice's Road corridor, although the humble road that led to a famous restaurant doesn't extend to much of the development land.
The corridor is made up of more than 1,500 acres that run from Hickman Road to I-80. Most of the focus is open land between University and the interstate.
That development corridor is now called Kettlestone - named after the kettle ponds that were scoured by glaciers that seemed to grind to a halt at the exact spot where Interstate 80 eventualy would be built.