While cleanup of soil contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) has been an issue where the housing is located, Evans said Hill already has been working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on the Sunset project and that it will meet EPA's requirements. Evans said he doesn't anticipate any problems with cleanup or handling the asbestos and lead-based paint inside all of the old buildings slated for demolition.

"These facilities are energy leakers," Evans said. "They are hard to maintain."

During a time of war, he added, the Department of Defense does not have the resources to fund the kind of military construction being planned at Hill. Evans said it's hard to maintain a "happy" work force in the current environment within existing buildings, and that the new development will help create jobs and shed the surrounding area's label of "bedroom community."

Woodbury said he's hopeful the new facilities will help attract new missions to Hill in the future. However, Evans said the decision to use a private developer to beef up its position as a potential commercial magnet had nothing to do with future government base realignment and closure (BRAC) proceedings.

"BRAC was not part of the discussion or the decision," Evans said about the motivation behind partnering with Sunset.

A large section of the Tooele Army Depot, whose mission includes storing ordnance on its base in Tooele County, was permanently closed, deeded over to surrounding municipalities and sold to a private industrial developer, who since the late 1990s has been attracting new businesses to that area.

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E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com