OMAHA — The boulder under Lori and David Johnson’s tree holds special meaning. So does the tipi, rose garden, and 20-foot-long bench in the couple’s northeast Omaha yard.

Each helps tell the history of a family that has invested six generations in a neighborhood just west of Eppley Airfield and north of Carter Lake. The Johnsons and leaders of the Levi Carter Sherman Neighborhood Association call their enclave a “land that time forgot.”

Despite its unpaved roads and septic tanks, the area — now targeted for transformation into a state-funded industrial business park — is a place the Johnsons don’t want to leave. 

“Technically I feel like they’re taking my town from me,” said Lori, who has four adult children living within a stone’s throw, and siblings and  longtime friends on surrounding blocks. “I’m scared to death about this move.”

The Johnsons are among numerous households, small urban farms and other properties on about 160 acres proposed to be turned into shovel-ready land where manufacturers, distributors and other industries can build plants and create jobs.

Under a plan backed by state and city officials, a partnership led by the Greater Omaha Chamber, Burlington Capital and Omaha Economic Development Corp. intends to use about $90 million awarded in state funds to prepare the land.

The start of the high-stakes project has been anything but smooth.

North Omaha lawmaker calls for a do-over

Lawmakers who represent North Omaha say they favor the unprecedented public investment in a business park in that area, and can see it developing at that site. But they’ve criticized key parts of the OEDC-led plan and lament what they say is the lack of front-end engagement with affected residents.

A City Sprouts intern plants kohirabi into biodegradable mulch. The nonprofit’s seven-acre farm is among occupants currently in the area envisioned as a future business park. (Courtesy of City Sprouts)

State Sen. Justin Wayne, whose district includes the proposed park, has taken aim at the state, contending the Department of Economic Development has “lied” during the process to award the funds. He cited a DED “clarity” statement a year ago that said the park program would not allow displacement of people.

He foresees potential legal challenges — perhaps from other developers who might have competed for the funds, or from residents resisting a move — and has called for a “fresh start.”

“The community has already lost too much trust with this group,” Wayne said Friday, a day after his public airing of complaints on the legislative floor delayed Gov. Jim Pillen’s State of the State address.

As an alternative, Wayne and Sen. Terrell McKinney of North Omaha have suggested the City of Omaha’s new “inland port authority” control the $90 million.

The inland port authority, which has legislative power to issue and sell revenue bonds to construct buildings and infrastructure, will be charged with guiding economic development in a broader, roughly 300-acre area around the airport.

To Omaha City Councilwoman Juanita Johnson, who represents North Omaha, that option raises “a bigger concern.”

She says she’d have no confidence in a nine-member inland port authority board appointed by the mayor with approval from the council. Johnson believes that other city boards formed in a similar manner lack racial and ethnic diversity. 

Governor, Omaha mayor are moving forward

Meanwhile, Pillen and Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert have indicated that it’s full speed ahead with the business park proposal led by the OEDC, the Chamber and Burlington. White Lotus Group of Omaha also is to help assemble industrial users.

The selection of that development team was announced during a Jan. 10 press conference. Though the team’s master plan explores two separate potential sites around Carter Lake for business park development, members said the priority starting point is the 160-acre tract bounded on the north by Storz Expressway and on the west by Ninth Street.

An analysis cited in the plan estimates a $137.7 million cost to prepare the site. It “assumes” that about $154 million in manufacturing and commercial construction then will be invested. And it projects the creation of 1,118 new on-site jobs.

When asked later about potential dislocation of people in the business park site, Pillen said: “Whenever there’s economic development that takes place, and growth, there’s going to be some disruptions. And that’s a process that goes on in every community across the state.”

Burlington vice president George Achola said Friday that the development team, now as the official grant recipient, plans to soon start organizing community meetings to discuss details.

Of two potential sites around Carter Lake, a development team led by the Greater Omaha Chamber, Burlington Capital and Omaha Economic Development Corp. said it has prioritized a 160-acre area north of the lake and west of Eppley Airfield, bounded by the Storz Expressway on the north and Ninth Street on the west. The team has been awarded about $90 million in state funds to prepare the land. It anticipates other funding sources as well. (Courtesy of Lamp Rynearson)

He said the project won’t be easy and that the “Herculean” task includes installing infrastructure and acquiring an assortment of properties, many of them owner-occupied older homes.

Asked to what extent eminent domain might be used, Achola said that based on direction from the DED, “That is probably not something that we have the capability to do right now.”

He said the team is hopeful for “voluntary transactions.”

Occupants are to be provided relocation and advisory services.

In response to Wayne’s concerns, Achola said the DED would have to resolve questions about program parameters.

Residents have questions, concerns

As public officials debate various elements, confusion and questions about what’s ahead reign among those who live and work in the area of the proposed business park.

Joe Higgins, leader of the Levi Carter Sherman Neighborhood Association, said residents have had to search out their own information about the project, and the scarcity of details provided by any public or elected official has spurred him to start planning his own neighborhood gathering.

Higgins said the neighborhood has been “marginalized” since around the 1950s. Thus the phrase on the association’s web page: “The land that time forgot.”

Most homes are older, he said, served by septic tanks and dirt roads. Many people have moved on. Those who stayed often have deep roots in the area.

Still, Higgins said he disagrees with any proposal to transform his neighborhood to a hub for manufacturing and distribution plants.

He believes the area — so close to a lake, park, airport and Omaha’s downtown — would be better suited for rejuvenation into an urban enclave of workforce housing and recreation.

“To me it’s lakefront property,” he said. 

Higgins noted the recent announcement that a multipurpose youth sports complex, funded with $35 million in federal dollars allocated by the Legislature, is coming to the adjacent Levi Carter Park. He said that’s a family attraction.

The Johnsons say they’ve not lived extravagantly but have made home improvements to take them into retirement and to create an extended family gathering place.  (Cindy Gonzalez/Nebraska Examiner)

“This area could be great again. That’s why I bought there,” said Higgins. “My vision for the park and the neighborhood is much bigger than what the city has.”

Urban farm wants to grow

Also wondering what’s next is City Sprouts, which in 2021 started an urban farm operation in the area that grew 15,000 pounds of food last year for a community pantry. It also provides internships and other learning opportunities for agriculture-focused students.

Aaron French, manager of urban farm initiatives for City Sprouts, said the nonprofit now owns seven acres there and wants to grow. Federal funding has helped with some infrastructure investments. Plans include building a greenhouse and a barn and quadrupling the produce it also shares with neighbors.

“We love our farm,” said French. “It would be next to impossible for us to find something similar elsewhere in Omaha, at least in the areas in which we work: densely urban sort of areas.” 

City Sprouts enjoys the proximity to other small farms, including Black Chick Farm and a fruit tree operation down the street. French said the nonprofit was drawn by the area’s truck farm history and agricultural roots.

He said staff has had fun connecting with area residents who reminisce about working on the farms, and in an earlier time sneaking watermelons off the site City Sprouts now occupies.

More than a boulder

Lori Johnson, 61, is a font of neighborhood nostalgia, having grown up there.

She and hubby David raised six kids in the house near Seventh and Jaynes Streets, where they’ve lived since the 1980s. 

The couple added bedrooms and a basement as their family multiplied. As kids moved out they knocked down walls to create more gathering space.

Other signs of family growth include the pool and 20-foot deck bench designed to seat more Johnsons. David built a vine-covered tipi fort for the grandkids, 14 and counting.

Lori said she recognizes that a house is “a material thing.” Yet she frets about the loss of such things as the rose garden she keeps as a memorial to her mom.

This huge rock and others were hauled from her dad’s house to Lori Johnson’s, and are memorials to him and their shared hobby. (Courtesy of Lori Johnson)

The boulder out front was hauled from her parents’ house to the Johnsons’ yard after the death of her dad. The dad-daughter duo shared a love for rocks.

David, who works in the construction industry, said he’s not against economic development. “I like building buildings, it gives me work.” 

A sticking point in his situation, he said, is that with prices so high, he and his wife would be hard-pressed to find a home comparable to the one they’ve built up in preparation for retirement and growing family.

“I get this neighborhood is going downhill,” said Lori, blaming, in large part, unequal city services and neglect. “But this is home. You can’t replace community.

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