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VINEYARD, Utah (AP) -- More than 2,000 acres of vacant land between I-15 and Utah Lake at the former Geneva Steel site could be transformed into commercial, industrial and residential development.
A new plan calls for development over 40 years and includes three lake activity areas, several new roads, an intermodal hub, 11 million square feet of commercial development and enough residential zoning to build more than 7,500 homes.
Vineyard Mayor Randy Farnworth said the plan would bring substantial economic growth and higher tax revenues to the community.
"We're starting a town that basically has no infrastructure at all," Farnworth said. "You can imagine (how) getting that additional revenue will help it grow faster than it is."
The development is projected to raise property values to as much as four times the amount they were when the Geneva Steel was in operation and expand the town's tax base by attracting new businesses.
Vineyard and Anderson Geneva LLC, which owns most of the project area, worked together to create a plan for development that reflected the wants of both the community and the company, said Vineyard town planner Nathan Crane.
"We worked very closely to develop the master plan and the zoning, not only to focus on what the town's vision was, but also to incorporate the property owners' (vision), too," Crane said. "It's really going to be a partnership between the town and whoever owns the property, whether it's Anderson Geneva or someone else in the future."
But first, the project area needs to be cleaned up. While some portions of the Geneva site have been remediated and developed, much of the area has not. Some deteriorating steel structures remain on the property, and much of the land is heavily contaminated.
Anderson Geneva estimates it will cost between $100 million and $300 million to remediate the site, depending on how the land is zoned. The plan's budget calls for $300 million, which will go toward building infrastructure, helping property owners clean up the land and providing tax incentives to businesses.
Crane said Vineyard's taxes will not increase to pay for the project because the plan will be carried out as an urban renewal area. Property owners will initially invest in the land, and as improvements are made, the increase in tax revenue generated at the site will be put back into the development of the project area.
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Information from: Deseret News
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
