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Population Update
By: Keith Ryan, Mayor
Date Published: Thursday, February 17, 2011
2010 Census Information Released! Click here for more information.
Population of Bondurant: 3,860
For years, I’ve heard that a majority of the growth in Central Iowa has been in the western suburbs of West Des Moines, Waukee and Clive. While it's true that Waukee had the largest percentage increase in Central Iowa, 169.0%, Bondurant grew 109.1%. Not only has Bondurant grown in the last 10 years, we’ve more than doubled! To put these numbers into perspective, Bondurant is #4 in Central Iowa and #8 statewide based on percentage of growth. Our population grew from 1,846 in 2000 to 3,860 in 2010. With the new home construction we had last year after the Census, I would guess that Bondurant is now well over 4,000 strong and growing. To take it one step further, if you compare the growth of cities over 3,000, we're #2 in Central Iowa and #3 statewide. That says volumes about our growth. Currently, there are a little more than 1,000 cities in Iowa; Bondurant is now in the top 100! So why was this Census so important? Why is massive growth like this a good thing? I can sum it up in one word, visibility.
Growth of this magnitude cannot go unnoticed by our elected officials at the County, State and Federal levels. In fact one entity, Polk County, has provided assistance on many projects in the past few years. With their assistance, these projects have helped the City to grow and attract new residents. Now that the official Census numbers are in, representatives at the Federal level will begin to follow the example set by Polk County. Since our growth has mainly been in the form of residential homes, we should focus our efforts on improving services in those areas of the City first. Storm water management, sanitary sewer system upgrades and improvements, trails, and parks and recreation should be our main focus.
Bondurant has already taken the lead in this area with the construction of a trail along 2nd Street which will be completed later this year. We’ve also begun a storm water project in Paine Heights to remove clear water from that sanitary sewer system. In the future we plan to connect the 2nd Street trail at Lake Petocka to the Chichaqua Valley Trail as well as a trail connection to the south into Altoona. Our elected officials in D.C. should have no problem seeing that spending a few dollars in Bondurant for trails is a good idea. Doing so would connect 7 cities via trail (Pleasant Hill, Altoona, Bondurant, Valeria, Mingo, Ira and Baxter). The Bondurant Trail would become the piece that ties the entire puzzle together. We also plan to complete the storm sewer project in Paine Heights which will have a positive effect on everyone’s sewer rates in the City. However, both the Paine Heights storm sewer and the trail connection projects will take more funding to complete.
The 2010 Census has proven that Bondurant is a place where people want to call home, so it should be worth spending our tax payer dollars to keep it growing. In my opinion, the people have already spoken by moving to the City, now the elected officials need to respond by directing funding to the projects that will continue to help the City not just grow, but thrive, well into the future.
Keith Ryan
Mayor
Bondurant, IA
Population 3,860
