Voters give overwhelming 'yes' to new city

Ledger News/May 23, 2001
By Beth Dalbey

Located north of Fairfield, Vedic City will become Iowa's 950th city, its first since 1982 and the first city in the United States to be developed according to the principles of Maharishi Sthapatya Veda. Residents of the area voted 64-1 Tuesday in favor of incorporation.

Overwhelmingly and with only one dissenter, Iowa's 950th city was born Tuesday night.

The first new city in Iowa since 1982 and the first city in the United States built exclusively according to the architectural principles of Maharishi Sthapatya Veda, Vedic City (a Sanskrit word meaning knowledge, it is pronounced vay-dick) received the support of 64 residents.

With about 78 residents eligible to cast ballots, turnout was around 83 percent.

The 654-acre area north of Fairfield becomes the seventh incorporated town in Jefferson County - and its smallest. With 131 residents counted in the 2000 Census and a cushion of a half dozen people, Pleasant Plain loses its distinction as the smallest of the small towns in Jefferson County. Vedic City petitioners estimated about 125 people live there.

That may change, as developers of the new city have stated all along they plan to move as quickly as is practical to bring in additional territory through voluntary annexation procedures before the state City Development Board. That board operating under the umbrella of the Iowa Department of Economic Development provided five of the six members of the special committee that approved and moved the incorporation question to voters.