East Gate project gets nod
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Tuesday, October 9, 2007 | 
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No comments [ Add Comment ]By Bryon Saxton
Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau
bsaxton@standard.net
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By Bryon Saxton
Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau
bsaxton@standard.net
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By Bryon Saxton
Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau
bsaxton@standard.net
LAYTON -- The East Gate economic development project here has received the unanimous approval of the RDA Taxing Entity Committee.
The TEC, consisting of representatives from Layton, the county, Davis School District, Utah State Board of Education, Davis School Board and special service districts, unanimously approved the project in a recent city work meeting.
The approval by the TEC gives the 650-acre East Gate project the tax increment dollars needed to put in place infrastructure.
The project is being set up to entice to the county large manufacturing companies that pay family-sustaining wages.
"We know what we need to do with this money. We need to get a road built," said Ben Hart, Layton economic development specialist.
For 15 years, Davis School District will receive 10 percent of the increased property tax increment generated by the project, and 90 percent will go to East Gate.
The other entities must wait 25 years to begin receiving a portion.
Hart said the group will meet once a year to review what tax increment it is receiving and how the development of the project is progressing.
"It's a benefit to the Davis School District in the long run," Davis School Board member Walt Bain said..
"Layton city has held this property for some time for this purpose," said Kent Sulser, Davis County manager of economic development.
The East Gate project, just east of Hill Air Force Base and north of State Road 193, is being developed to attract higher-paying jobs to the county.
A recent study shows yearly wages have dipped in Davis County because of government job loss, combined with an increase in jobs relating to the service industry.
To attract companies to the project, Layton entered into a contract in June with the Economic Development Corporation of Utah.
The council unanimously approved a $17,000 one-year contract with EDCU to help recruit aerospace and advanced composite manufacturing companies to the city's proposed project.
Incentives, viewed as "nasty" and "distasteful" by some, need to be used in these cases to compete with other states in bringing those types of jobs to Layton, EDCU President Jeff Edwards said.
Layton leaders have yet to make an official decision as to whether it will offer incentive packages to bring manufacturing companies to its new development park.
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