Road to Nowhere getting somewhere

Kayne Pyatt, Herald reporter
Posted 12/16/22

The Uinta County Economic Development Commission meeting’s agenda on Dec. 7 featured three major guest speakers. Member Jon Conrad asked that Kiley Ingersoll, Wyoming Business Council, be added to the agenda to discuss the

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Road to Nowhere getting somewhere

Posted

The Uinta County Economic Development Commission meeting’s agenda on Dec. 7 featured three major guest speakers.  Member Jon Conrad asked that Kiley Ingersoll, Wyoming Business Council, be added to the agenda to discuss the BRC (Business Ready Communities).

The first guest speaker, Jeffrey Jones, director of the Summit County, Utah, economic development board, provided demographics comparing Summit County and Uinta County.  He said Brent Hatch had visited their board and he wanted to reciprocate. His goal was to demonstrate the challenges facing the two counties and their similarities and differences.

Jones used a slide presentation comparing the demographics of the two counties.  Using the 2021 U.S. Census statistics, Jones said Summit County’s (SC) population was 43,093 and Uinta County’s (UC) was at 20,635.  The projected population growth for SC was 6% and UC was 2% with projected employment at 7,499 for SC and 630 for UC.  As of Sept. 2022, the labor participation in SC was 73.6% and for UC was 55.5%.

“There is an interesting phenomenon across the U.S.,” Jones said. “The lowest labor participation rate is with teens 16 to 19 years of age and yet that group is high in population.  I think parents are telling their kids not to work but to focus on getting their grade point average up to get into the best college.”

In comparing average earnings and the cost of living in the two counties, Jones said UC could capitalize on the fact the low cost of living actually increases the average earnings statistically, where in SC the cost of living outweighs the higher average earnings.  He said this could be a real advantage on how UC structures their economic development approach.

Jones compared the largest contributing industries, the fastest-growing industries for employment and which industries contribute more to the gross regional product (GRP).  The number one largest industry in SC is the food and accommodation businesses and in UC it is government.  The fastest growing industry for employment in SC is construction and in UC it is retail. As far as which industry contributes the most to the GRP, in SC it is real estate and rental leasing and in UC it is government.

“Summit County’s budget for this year is $72.2 million and our revenues come from 45% property tax, 25% sales tax and 30% government revenue,” Jones said.  “A current project that will have an impact on Uinta County is the wind farm project at Echo Divide on the Utah and Wyoming border near interstate 80.”

During the construction phase employment will be high but during operation the employment numbers will be relatively low, Jones explained.  Jones said he appreciated the opportunity to share and hoped the exchange of information between SC and UC could continue.

The next speaker was Sean Schaub, Account and Project Manager with Manufacturing Works (MW) from Laramie.

“We are part of the manufacturing extension partnership (MEP) with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)at the U.S. Department of Commerce,” Schaub said. “Our other partners are the Wyoming Business Council and the University of Wyoming.  Our focus is on supporting Wyoming manufacturing businesses and finding solutions for them.”

Schaub said Manufacturing Works has offices in several locations in the state and they are part of a national network helping more than 1,000 manufacturing companies across Wyoming.  There are 650 companies in the region that Schaub covers.

MW works with local economic development groups to identify companies who might need help. Schaub said he interacts regularly with Community Development Director Rocco O’Neill.

The process for Schaub begins with contacting a company, completing an assessment, identifying needs, providing follow-up, project execution and negotiation. Currently, Schaub said they are helping companies with cybersecurity, engineering prototyping and lean manufacturing.  MW also helps to identify grant and funding possibilities for manufacturing companies.

“The manufacturing industry adds $2.3 trillion annually to the U.S. economy,” Schaub said. “My desire is to be able to help Wyoming ranchers and farmers get more revenue for the hard work they do.  We work with companies just starting up to already established businesses.”

Three representatives from the firm Jones & DeMille were next on the agenda to provide an update on the 1,000-acre design study. Ben Levenger, president of Downtown Redevelopment Service; Bart Jensen, PELS Project Manager; and Tyler Stuart, P.G. Evanston office manager, were all present to answer questions and review the information gathered at the open house/public meeting that was held on Nov. 9 in the County Commission chambers. A packet with copies of their slide presentation was given out to all present.

“The property is actually approximately 998 acres but we have just been using the title 1,000 acres to keep it simple,” Levenger said. “There is 210 acres of that 998 that are not buildable for various reasons.”

The packet and slide presentation contained a summarized history of Uinta County which focused on the industries that have supported the county over the years; demographics on the population including educational attainment breakdown; the largest employment sectors; time involved in commuting to work; total consumer expenditures further broken down for food and retail sales by sector; housing costs and transportation costs.

Three scenarios were presented and each scenario included an economic impact analysis. The scenarios all included overall themes including: industrial and commercial; retail and residential and flex space. The packet included photos of sample layouts on maps; photos of sample building styles; cost benefit analysis; construction project costs and details about each land use type and a projection for employment opportunities at approximately 70 jobs per acre.

The preferred scenario leaves 290 acres vacant at the front of the property for roadway, the hiking trails and buffer zone next to the State Park. Nearest the Road to Nowhere is 159.95 acres planned for commercial and 156.20 acres south of it designated industrial. Mixed use is below that for a total of 89.51 acres and finally, at the very end of the property the plan is for 117.37 acres to be used for single family residential and 123.95 for multi-family residential (12 apartments per acre).

A summary of the economic impact for the preferred scenario is total new tax generated annually: $1,459,244 and total job creation: 6,630.  A comparison of costs vs. revenue was projected: costs for residential - $71,761,795.45 and revenue for residential - $77,667,794.73;  costs for commercial - $159,972,504.38 and revenue for commercial - $234,356,602.67.  Energy and water usage was also projected.

“The next steps are a re-visit with the State Park administration to finalize a memorandum of understanding (MOU), work on securing a second access to the property, environmental clearances, and meet with the City of Evanston to discuss water and sewer issues,” Levenger said.

Rocco O’Neill gave the web page report and said traffic on the website had increased and the site was getting searches from target businesses. He has received interest from small scale manufacturers but the lack of available commercial space is still a problem.

Jon Conrad said the Wyoming Business Council is supporting community infrastructure through a grant process called Business Ready Communities and the grant application deadline is June 1.

“Could we take advantage of their loan and grants for the 1,000 acres?” Conrad asked. “That is why I asked Kiley Ingersoll to speak.”

Kiley Ingersoll, with Wyoming Business Council (WBC) said, “There is a $50,000.00 grant available for community development and later in June there will be a $3 million grant available.  I can work with you on this for the 1,000 acres.”

Ingersoll said WBC is looking for projects with multiple investment plans. There is also a $3 million loan available. The WBC can decide to go above that amount with good reason depending on the potential for jobs, earnings, and profit, Ingersoll said.  The application needs to be filed by June 1; the board will meet and decide on the grant recipient/s in October and then will send it to the State Lands and Investment Board (SLIB).

Chair Dan Wheeler reported the school board had hired a project manager to work on the installing of the “bubbles” the district had purchased for added sports arenas.

County Commissioner Brent Hatch reported on the construction to take place on the library parking lot.  Numerous trees have already been removed and the underground parking lot will be filled in beginning in February. He said ARPA funds will be used for that project as well as for building new grandstands at the Fairgrounds.  The grandstand construction contract will be awarded in February and the project is scheduled to be completed by August.

Due to the length of the meeting needed to hear all the speakers, the scheduled update on the Strategic Plan was postponed until the next meeting on Jan. 25.