Approximately 30,000 two-sided, colorful fliers touting Corsica were placed this week in area newspapers, according to Leroy Blom, president of the Corsica Development Corporation. The novel concept has received rave reviews so far, Blom said.

“I’ve been hearing from people that the flier looks nice,” he said. “We thought maybe it would be something people would grab and hold on to.”

The flier, titled “Corsica … A Community On The Grow!” points out many projects going on in the town of 644 as well as some proposed projects, like a new water tower and a new wastewater treatment facility. The flier’s midsection features 13 new or expanding businesses in the community.

Besides pointing out Corsica’s positives, the flier also is evidence that many small towns are willing to use whatever method is necessary to try to land more businesses or more residents.

White Lake, a small town northwest of Corsica, also has been floating new ideas, like providing affordable housing to new families and building a new community retail center closer to the interstate.

In Plankinton, the development corporation is giving away lots near the town’s new school in an effort to lure people.

Corsica’s school system is a point of pride and is pointed out in the flier.

The Corsica Elementary school received a Blue Ribbon designation in 2005 under the No Child Left Behind Act. The Blue Ribbon honor goes to schools that consistently are high-performing or significantly improve their achievement scores. Jamie Rexwinkel, a Corsica Housing Authority board member and member of the Corsica Development Corporation, said Corsica’s education system has been attracting families for years.

“In the last six years, we’ve had a family from Ethan send their kids here

they liked our school,” he said. “We had two kids from Kimball that did the same thing (and) have now moved here. Something about our school, they have to be doing something to get people to drive (40 minutes) every day.”

One major advantage Corsica has is input from younger people on housing and community development plans, Rexwinkel said.

“We’re really getting a lot more young people involved,” he said. “We had a young couple that moved into the community not too long ago. They bought a house. … He ran for school board and he hadn’t been here for even a year.”

Dick Brink, president of the City Council and acting mayor of Corsica, attributes the rapid progress to the city’s ambitious development corporation. The development corporation recently attracted the Great Plains Lamb and Veal, LLC, formerly Lido Veal and Lamb, plant to Corsica, which will bring with it more than 50 new jobs late this summer or fall.

“I think our development corporation was tenacious. They started (working with the company) and didn’t give up,” he said. “They worked and worked and pursued.”

Rexwinkel said he and Roger Bordewyk, also involved with the Corsica Development Corporation, started a housing development featured in the bottom third of the flier in reaction to the veal and lamb plant news.

“We’re going to have 30-40 people right out of the gate that need it,” he said. “We have everything registered. We have a few lots sold and a couple more interested. We had one group we just priced out six lots to. The biggest thing is at our next Monday night meeting to discuss doing some governor-style houses.”

The Corsica Housing Authority is also considering putting up some lower-cost housing, but Rexwinkel said he would like the houses to be built by local contractors, not pre-fabricated somewhere else and brought in.

“What we’re trying to do is work with all local people here,” he said.

Blom said the development corporation and the other three entities involved with producing the flier

the housing authority, the commercial club and the city

will get together and analyze the results of the flier. The flier itself cost around $4,400 and was supported by the four organizations and six advertisers, each of whom paid $400 to have their ad on the back of the flier.

“We had just discussed it between the development corporation, the housing authority and commercial club,” he said. “We’ve been doing some things as a community and we wanted to put our name out there and splash it up a little bit.”

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Check out the Corsica Development Plans