ICO - The main road leading to this rural Grant County community has been widened, and timber has been cleared. Developers have sunk signs in the land promising homes and businesses.
Ico, barely a blip between Little Rock and Sheridan, is ready to boom.
Even in the midst of the economic crisis and housing downturn, developer Nick McDaniel recently stood in a pile of dirt in what he plans to turn into a 500-home subdivision and waxed poetic about the area's future.
"I know the potential," he said, describing the area from Ico north into the edges of Saline and Pulaski counties as the next major Little Rock suburban outpost.
The next Benton or Bryant?
"I actually think it's going to be a lot bigger than that," Mc-Daniel said.
Ico is neither town nor city and only got a name and a spot on some maps because it once had a post office, records from a Grant County museum indicate.
To date, the area has no official boundaries, so accurate population estimates elude planners. But the area northeast of Hurricane Creek appears to be home to about 1,780 people, according to a Metroplan analysisof 2000 Census numbers.
McDaniel is among those who tout the area's affordable land and housing, the reputation of the Sheridan School District, the promise of hundreds of newjobs a short drive away and the freshly laid asphalt on U.S. 167 making it four lanes for miles. The stretch of 167 between Interstate 530 and Arkansas 367 will also be four lanes by next year.
Those ingredients, along with thousands of acres of former timberland freed for development in recent years, are key for growth, said Jim McKenzie, head of Metroplan, central Arkansas' planning agency.
How much growth just depends "on how long your telescope is," he said.
One of the driving forces behind developer McDaniel's optimism is the area's potential to attract jobs.
A windmill-blade maker and one of its suppliers plan to create upward of 830 jobs over the next four years when they open off Interstate 530 at the southern tip of Pulaski County.
There is also a 2,046-acre swath of former timberland on the eastern edge of Saline County designated a "megasite," ready for industrial development.
Engineers have worked out a site plan for the roughly 17,000 acres of timberland around themegasite, indicating areas suited for commercial and residential development.
However, "Nobody is knocking on the door today," said Bill Hope Jr. of Hope Engineers in Benton.
But Justin and Abby Chang are among those who hope a growth spurt is not too far off. The couple bought a filling station and convenience store on U.S. 167 a year ago.
"That was our hope when we opened this place," Justin Chang said on a recent morning when an electrical problem halted gas sales and foot traffic was light.
"We were so dumb," he said with a mischievous grin, lamenting the steep rise and then fall in gas prices this year.
"No, we're not," his wife Abby Chang chirped, putting an end to talk of the troubled economy.
So far, signs of growth nearby are subtle. There's little more than a few churches, a taxidermist, a cemetery and two gas stations in the area.
"We're like the Marines down here," said Marlow Missionary Baptist Church Pastor Robert Standley. "We need a few good folks."
No banks, restaurants or grocery stores means Dianna Traylor finds herself driving south about 10 miles to Sheridan or 20 minutes north to southwest Little Rock for basic amenities.
"I have to kind of plan my trips to town," said the stay-athome mom, who moved from Bryant three years ago to a new Ico subdivision called Hurricane Hills.
The family relocated so her husband could be closer to work in Redfield.
She saw Bryant in Saline County become one of the fastest-growing cities in Arkansas, now home to roughly 17,000 people. Metroplan estimates just under 29,000 people live in Benton.
"I think in probably three to five years that Sheridan and Ico is going to turn into Benton and Bryant," she said. But for now, she says, "It's kind of like country living."
At her subdivision, another 50 or so homes are planned. And while there's little more than a dirt road and a sign promising new neighbors, they are on the way, real estate agent Jerry Harringtonsaid.
"We're going to build it, absolutely," he said, noting that northern Grant County has not been hit as hard by the housing slump as other parts of the state. "As the economy continues to rebound, we should be positioned for some great things."
To that end, Grant County officials have talked about creating a planning commission and devising a master plan for the firsttime, County Judge Kemp Nall said. The county was home to 16,464 people in 2000, and the latest estimates put it at 17,740.
"We know we're going to grow," he said. "Going from a small county, growing into a larger county will be a change for everybody."
Arkansas, Pages 7, 14 on 12/01/2008