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Map of runway access at Hill Air Force Base for Layton.

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Map of runway access at Hill Air Force Base for Layton.

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KAYSVILLE – Layton City’s unique arrangement with Hill Air Force Base to market access to 13,500 feet of runway space to private business was approved Tuesday morning by the Military Installation Defense Authority.

Meeting at the David Applied Technology College, MIDA board members voted unanimously to approve a new 90-acre project area on the east side of Hill AFB. The only hitch in approving the project area was getting agreement for a name both local and Air Force officials can live with. The area went through three name changes in the final three days before Runway at East Gate was attached to the project.

Former Clearfield Mayor Don Wood, a MIDA member, did not like the original name of Falcon Hill East, because of the confusion it may create for a public-Air Force development on the base’s west side. Air force officials also rejected the use of joint use in any title associated with the project. The new name links the space with an industrial project area in the city adjacent to the base, according to Paul Morris, MIDA counsel.

Name changes aside, MIDA members and local officials see the newly-approved accord as a major economic step forward for the region.

Fifty acres of the area will be available for enhanced use lease by the city in the newly designated area immediately south of the F-22 heavy maintenance facilities on the east side of the base and is located near the city’s East Gate Business Park.

Kent Andersen, deputy director of economic development, said the city will be able to offer a business access to 5,000 operations on the runway a year, about 95 per week, without interfering with the Air Force’s core mission at Hill AFB.

He said the city can offer 180,000 square feet of hangar space — large enough to house three 747s — as part of the arrangement and can facilitate any company or business that needs large or heavy aircraft operations.

The process of getting the designation has been almost 20 years in the making, according to state Sen. Jerry Stevenson, R-Layton, who was mayor of Davis County’s largest city when the proposal was first initiated.

Stevenson raved about the new MIDA area on base. He said getting a private/public partnership in place with the Air Force is an economic benefit for the entire region.

Even with approval, Andersen cautioned any specific uses in the newly designated MIDA area will still be subject to Air Force review —- a process he said can take from 18 to 24 months. He said two other Air Force bases in the U.S. currently have similar arrangements in places, so a precedent has been set.

Besides Air Force approval, the area also needs approximately $85 million in upgrades, Andersen said. He said $55 million is needed to develop a hangar, aprons and approaches to the runway and there are another $30 million in off-site utility improvements needed.

Bill Wright, director of community and economic development, said the hope is any company taking advantage of the new access will help shoulder some of the costs of the improvements and development. He said access to the longest runway in the state is no small deal.

Andersen said runway access could be important to companies like United Parcel Service (UPS) or FedEx, or even aerospace companies. There has also been some discussion the area might be helpful in helping the Utah Air National Guard relocate from an area near the Salt Lake Airport to HAFB. Talk of that possible relocation was initiated earlier this year in the state Legislature.

State Sen. Stuart Adams, R-Layton, who chairs the MIDA board, said the benefit of the new MIDA designation goes beyond Layton to all communities in Weber, Davis and Salt Lake counties, who enjoy the economic advantages of the base.

There is some tax advantage to the new designation as well, according to Ron Richins, MIDA executive director. Seventy-five of any tax revenue generated in the area will go to MIDA, with 25 percent going to Layton.