Let's do the sprawl so we can get a TV station

Oh, joy! Oh, joy! We could get more radio stations and maybe even a TV station in Rolla if we'll support the city government in its plans to sprawl Rolla to the west.

Here's the scoop from the Rolla Daily News, posted online Thursday:

Rolla Area Chamber of Commerce members on Wednesday were updated on three development projects that could shape Rolla for generations — the Missouri Route 72 extension, the Rolla West Fifth Interchange and Missouri S&T’s Tech Park.
Elizabeth Bax, executive director of the Rolla Regional Economic Commission (RREC), Steve Hargis, Rolla city engineer, and John Petersen, Rolla city Development Coordinator, each spoke to about 60 members of the Chamber who gathered at Zeno’s Motel & Steak House at 7 a.m. for the Quarterly Breakfast.
With the aid of a PowerPoint presentation, the trio explained the importance of each project to Rolla’s stance in regional economics and growth.
“Rolla West is the key to Rolla’s prosperity,” Bax said, as she began her program. “It is very important if Rolla is to have a regional voice that we continue with this project.”
Bax said the RREC is poised to assist in the growth and attraction of business to Rolla and Phelps County.
“If we grow our population, we will grow our media outlets — more TV and radio stations, and I think we’ll see more government funding,” Bax said ....
Hargis next spoke about the logistics of the developments.
“Rolla West is about 1,000 acres and the Tech Park is about 60 acres,” he said standing in front of a PowerPoint map of the areas. The E-Cubed area on the north side of Interstate 44 is a project the Missouri S&T is promoting in joint projects with the Missouri Highway Patrol that includes the wind turbine and a hydrogen refueling station. E-Cubed represents Education, Energy and Environment, credos for the development located just north of Interstate 44.
“We’d like to see this grow and make Rolla stronger,” Hargis said. “Ninety percent of all the money for our Street Department comes from sales taxes. We grow those numbers and we’ll be able to do more for our streets.”
While Bax provided a vision and Hargis discussed the logistics of getting the I’s dotted and the T’s crossed, it was Petersen who provided Chamber members a map of what Rolla West may be....
"We can see a hospitality district, a big-box store or more, a general retail and even an entertainment district. There are 1.65 square miles here,” Petersen said.
And while plans are grand, it may not happen immediately.
“We don’t expect to see all this happen for 20 to 30 years, but we’re getting there. Ridgeview Drive is one-sixth of the way there. It has to happen first. It’s not like this is the chicken-and-the-egg thing.”

Here's some more good news: We might be able to get federal tax money "earmarked" for the project. The RDN reported:

During a Rolla Optimists meeting later Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Cape Girardeau), who is touring her district during a Congressional recess, said she would be in favor of federally earmarked money for Rolla West.
“This could be federal money,” Emerson told a group of 22 Optimists in the Gasconade Room of the Havener Center.