Construction is imminent on the new customer office and service center at 4000 First Ave. N., said Adam Jacobi, public relations representative for the power company.

Targeted completion date is the second quarter of 2018, Jacobi said.

“It will replace our existing facilities in Fort Dodge and will better serve the needs of our customers and our employees in the area,” he said.

The proposed building will have a footprint of more than 72,000 square feet, according to plans filed with the Fort Dodge Board of Adjustment.

-Messenger photo by Joe Sutter This lot at left, like others in the Decker Development Park, is just a cornfield now. But Tuesday night the Fort Dodge Board of Adjustment heard plans from MidAmerican Energy to build a new service center on these 20 acres.

It will be built on a 20-acre lot in the industrial park which was completed in December 2016, and which currently has only corn standing in the ready-for-development industrial lots.

Officials have said the Decker Industrial Park, also called the Crosstown Connector Industrial Park, could someday be the site of 800 jobs and $63 million worth of new tax value.

The sign at the entrance indicates three lots have already been sold.

Plans for the park were announced in January 2014.

MidAmerican announced tentative plans to move there in September 2016.

The company came to the board of adjustment because a special exception is needed to allow the planned 8-foot fence around the property. Fences greater than 7 feet in height and further back from the street than the main building require a special exception from the board.

Board Chair Steve Hoesel said a new FedEx building also applied for a similar exception for fence height. It’s probably time to revisit those rules, he said.

“This is the new tradition for these light industrial areas,” Hoesel said. “We have a whole subdivision out there. It’s going to be one right after the other.”

“We can clean this up early on and save a lot of developers a hassle,” said board member JP Mansfield. “I would strongly recommend you look into that,” he told Associate City Planner Maggie Carlin.

In other business, the board approved exemptions for:

• Outdoor, seasonal use for Highway 7 Produce, 805 Kenyon Road;

• A bus barn on property owned by the Holy Trinity Parish along 20th Avenue North north of Corpus Christi Cemetery, for St. Edmond Catholic School;

and approved a variance for:

• An “accessory structure” larger than the primary structure at 615 L St., a larger-than-typical parcel of land.