From Deseret News archives:
Governor has plan to avoid Hill Air Force Base closure
Make area irresistible by attracting new businesses
"Hill Air Force Base, I think, will play into what I hope will be over the next 20 years a center of excellence for aerospace design, engineering and manufacturing," Huntsman said recently.
Work already has begun, he said.
An aircraft manufacturing company recently announced it is moving into a facility at the south end of the Ogden-Hinckley Airport.
Colorado-based Adam Aircraft Industries will produce both its A500 twin-propeller and A700 AdamJet twin-jet aircraft at the new Kemp Ogden Airport Gateway Center.
"When you look now at Adam Aircraft at Hinckley airport, it will no doubt over time be surrounded by manufacturing companies that will feed into it," Huntsman said. "This is a hugely important deal to our state in terms of job creation. The right kinds of jobs — high-paying jobs, geographically in an area that is important to our future."
Such a sales pitch could prove valuable as the Base Realignment and Closure Commission reconvenes next month after a 10-year hiatus.
Hill Air Force Base is one of 425 domestic military installations that could be on a proposed list of bases to be closed or realigned. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld must release a list of his recommendations no later than May 16.
Davis County leaders have a similar plan to fight off BRAC.
"We're looking at enhancing the business environment around the base," said Wilf Sommerkorn, Davis County's community and economic development director.
A planned, full-service east gate to the base in Layton is key to the county's development plan.
Before the gate can be built, the city of Layton must agree to build an extension of Fairfield Road.
"We're anticipating that just east of the base there would be some sites there for aerospace and defense-related businesses to come in and locate there," Sommerkorn said.
Northern Utah already has a handful of companies that fit Huntsman's description of a "center of excellence for aerospace design, engineering and manufacturing."
ATK Thiokol Propulsion in Promontory, Box Elder County, is a supplier of rocket motors for space-launch vehicles and strategic missiles. The company has had some component on every U.S. manned space flight, with the space shuttles' solid-fuel rocket motors being the most well-known.
And at the state's Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan, employees work on several projects for aeronautics and defense clients, including the federal government.
Sommerkorn said Davis County is looking at the possibility of partnering with the Air Force to build facilities on the base that are privately owned and operated.
"It's been done in some of the other services, but it hasn't been done in the Air Force yet," Sommerkorn said. "We're hoping maybe the Air Force will be looking at that as a possibility for the future."
E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com
