About Crete - Business
The City of Crete is active in community development. The City, the Crete Chamber of Commerce, along with other entities including Doane University, Crete Public Schools, and industry partners join with state and federal entities to facilitate attracting business to the area. The City and the Nebraska Department of Economic Development frequently work together on housing, public works, and economic development projects.
City of Crete relevant business programs and offices, affiliations:
- Community and Economic Development Office
- Nebraska Department of Economic Development Certified Community
- Downtown Revitalization Program
- Economic Development Assistance Program (LB840) and Housing Development Program
- Tax Increment Financing Program
- Zoning Map (pdf)
- Wellhead Protection Plan - See information on Zoning Regulations and Building Codes
- City Maps: online mapping property zones, flood plain revision (Oct. 2022), districts, and other information related to the physical layout of the municipality.
- Building Inspector's Office - Permits and Zoning
- City Master Fee Schedule: A comprehensive list of all city fees for services, permits, utilities, and programs across all departments and offices. View the Master Fee Schedule
- Community Development Agency
- Southeast Nebraska Development District (SENDD)
- Building Welcoming Communities
- League of Nebraska Municipalities
- Tree City USA Community - 32 years (2023) - Arbor Day Foundation
- Historic Preservation
- Three Historic Districts (Crete Downtown, College Hill, and Doane College) and individually registered properties
City of Crete studies, surveys and outside data profiles:
- Crete Housing Study (December 2019)
- City of Crete - Finance Department (Budgets and Audit Statements)
- Comprehensive Plan and Community Survey (2014)
- Development of an updated comprehensive plan will be completed in 2024
- Saline County Labor Survey (2020)
- NIFA City of Crete profile links (4)
- Crete profile on City-Data
Major employers:
Bunge Milling operates one of its four, corn dry milling operations in Crete. The local mill started as the Crete Mills in 1869 and is the oldest, continually operating business in Crete. Bunge is the leading corn dry miller in the world with operations in North and South America.
Nestle Purina started in Crete in 1965 as part of Alpo Petfoods Inc. Now part of the Purina brand, it is one of the largest wet pet food manufacturing facilities in the U.S., employing over 400 people and producing 3 to 4 million cans of wet pet food varieties per day. The Crete plant is a management training site.
Smithfield Foods, located just south of Crete, is a large-scale pork processing plant, which opened in 1967, originally part of Farmland Foods. The current plant employs about 2,200 people and produces fresh pork, smoked hams, bacon and sausage products.
Crete Core Ingredients, located just south of Crete, is a fresh and frozen supplier of ingredients to the pet food industry, specializing in novel and premium meats, fruits and vegetables.
Crete Area Medical Center is a 24-bed critical access hospital as well as a physician clinic and specialty clinics. The current facility, built in 2003, is part of the Bryan Health system, based in Lincoln. The Air Methods Star Care helicopter and crew is also based at CAMC.
Education: The Crete Public Schools District has over 2,000 students in grades Pre K-12 with over 300 faculty and staff. Doane University's Crete campus has about 1,000 undergraduates with over 300 faculty and staff.
More about Crete:
- Please use the City Government, Departments, Public Works, and Library sections of this site to find more information about City of Crete functions and services.
- Check out the Living in Crete section as a starting place to many community agencies, organizations, healthcare, education, and activities.