SPRINGFIELD, Neb. (KMTV) — The Springfield - Platteview School District is in the process of replacing Springfield Elementary with an even bigger school, as well as adding an additional elementary school down the line.
That just gives you a taste of the growth the city of Springfield is expecting.
If you've driven down Highway 50 through Springfield recently. The growth is hard to miss.
Several businesses including Ace Hardware and Dollar General, and other businesses popping up, in and around town.
"It makes us more of a destination than just a small town,” says Springfield Mayor Bob Roseland.
While new housing developments continue to be built, the population hasn't exploded yet. That’s because there’s no sewer system that covers the large area.
But that could change as an enormous project that's been in the works for two years, would bring a sewer system to the southern portion of Sarpy County.
Sarpy County Commissioner Don Kelly says over the phone it would bring historic growth, doubling the population of the county and bringing $3 billion dollars worth of economic impact.
"This gives an opportunity to bring the growth here. My biggest dream is to have industrial here, where people live here and work here,” says Roseland.
That is slowly beginning to happen. just this year Peyton Maas opened up Forged Woodworks in Springfield because he simply liked the town.
"I've seen a lot of attention being here,” says Peyton Maas, owner of Forged Woodworks.
Business is booming and he's quickly realizing how fast the town is too.
"I've been very pleasantly surprised with it and it's definitely due to the town becoming a way more popular town too,” says Maas.
While Mayor Bob Roseland encourages more businesses to open up in town, he wants to see controlled growth both on the business and the residential end.
"But we don't want to outgrow our school district or our fire department, so if we go hand in hand with those, we're doing our job,” says Roseland.
Currently the school district is just under 1,200 students, by the year 2050, the superintendent estimates it'll be around 9,000 students.
