Ben Sinclair

Parks

Parks, trails, and greenspace a priority for me, and I'm happy to report we've had great progress in the past two years. We've opened several new neighborhood parks, built new trails, and will be opening Triumph Park in 2022.

For the future, I'm excited to develop the winery property into an extension of Centennial Park, make some of our trail crossings safer, and increase neighborhood trail connectivity.

I'm also interested in expanding our popular Tree Canopy program, and work towards recognition as Tree City USA community.

Many have asked me about an aquatic center, and that is a priority for me as well. We can learn a lot from neighboring cities, and I want anything we build to be amazing and reflect our growing community.

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Sustainability

Waukee is in an ideal position to become a leader in sustainable city planning. We can lead the way with energy efficient municipal buildings and vehicles, and provide incentives for LEED certified commercial construction and other green initiatives.

We have a new sustainability initiative that is exploring ways we can prepare Waukee for a future that includes affordable renewable energy, electric vehicle infrastructure, and water management.

Waukee is an incredible city for bike trail users, but we can do better for transportation biking. We need bike lanes to link trails, safer crossings at busy roads, and encourage businesses to be bicycle friendly.

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Neighborhood Traffic

A top issue mentioned by the Waukee neighbors I’ve interviewed is traffic in residential neighborhoods, from a speed and safety standpoint.

I've supported the creation of a traffic safety playbook, and we've been working with residents to make changes in problem areas.

Connecting our larger collector roads has been a priority of mine, and we've made great progress in getting Douglas across the city, which will help reduce traffic in nearby neighborhoods.

I support a focus around safe routes to school, and I will work to plan new school routes that are safer and more efficient.

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Utilities

The long term future of our water and gas systems are a priority for myself, and the rest of the council.

Along with our metro neighbors, we face challenges as a customer of Des Moines for our water supply. Drought and water quality issues have become routine, and as a growing city our needs are always expanding. However, we're actively working on the future of our water system, and I'm very optimistic about the direction we're moving.

In the shorter term, I voted to support building a new ASR well, which allows us to store water at lower prices in the Winter, and bring it back out in the hot Summer months. This gives us more flexibility in usage and can help with our water costs.

With global natural gas prices in flux, we've adjusting our purchasing strategy to help weather the changes, and exploring the long-term future of our gas system is a priority for me as well.

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Development

I've been very happy to be a part of bringing amazing new businesses and other developments to Waukee. We're in a great position to attract new retail, restaurants, shopping, and attractions!

I've supported the creation of new roles within our city to proactively attract the types of development residents want, and we're seeing some great results with developments like KeeTown Loop. There will be more to come!

The downtown triangle has always been a priority for me, and I support increasing incentives for development in the area. In the future, downtown will be near the center of the city and will become a real destination. We've welcomed some new businesses to the triangle recently, and I want to encourage more!

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Affordable Housing

I want to make sure Waukee has affordable housing, so it can be a great place to buy that first house, start a family, or retire. You should be able to live and work in the same city!

I've voted to support affordable housing strategies that include aquiring property and working with specialized developers to build new, affordable housing. That's a small piece of a larger puzzle, and we'll have to be creative to continue to address housing costs with prices continuing to rise.

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