Paper mill not in near future for Goshen Valley

PAYSON — A paper mill rumored to be coming to Goshen Valley may be built someday but not in the foreseeable future.

However, other businesses also are looking at the 3,400-acre site that Utah County has targeted for industrial development, with residential development to follow, County Commissioner Larry Ellertson told a group of local officials and business leaders Tuesday at the ninth annual Nebo Economic Summit.

The site is near the crossroads of U.S. 6 and state Route 68 on the west side of Utah Lake. It could develop into a new Utah County city, Ellerston said, because the county is not in the development business. Property owners, the county and the Economic Development Corp. of Utah are working together on it, he said.

"The timetable didn't work out for the initial phase," Ellertson said, later clarifying that an East Coast company that was eyeing the property as a potential Western distribution point wasn't coming as soon as expected but still may at some point.

Eric Allen, project director with Economic Development Corp. of Utah, said nearly a year ago that the plant, which has never been officially identified, may not come. But as many as six other businesses are interested in the location, Ellerston said.

— Rodger L. Hardy