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Show Clean Industry By TOM BUSSELBERG FARMINGTON Clean, attractively-situated industry can aid Davis County Coun-ty in maintaining its lifestyle by helping foot the bills that come with grow th. i WITH ADVANTAGES to living in the county apparently no secret and some estimates projecting a half million population popu-lation in 20 years, money will be needed to provide for such services as storm . sewer and roads and much of that can come from industry. County Planning Director Harold Tippetts says. Speaking to the Layton Chamber of Commerce in their monthly meeting at the Oakrige Country Club in Farming-ton, Farming-ton, he said the state is fifth or sixth fastest-growing nationally and would be tenth even if none moved into the state. NOTING THE typical response to such "growing pains" finds those already living in an area saying, "I'm a member of the club let's close the door" to newcomers. "You've got to realize some facts of life. Either you grow or die there's no legal way to stop it (growth)," he said. "The challenge is to get the best growth possible where we can maintain our lifestyle." That can include inviting clearn industries such as American Express, Ex-press, where eventually 3.500 will be employed, located in Salt Lake County and Seven-Eleven's burrito plant, the world's largest, or McDonald's giant hamburger patty operation both also in Salt Lake County. TO HELP plan for orderly grow th, the county is continuing preparations on a comprehensive master plan, hoping for completion and adoption by sometime next year, Mr. Tippetts explained. "It should be a guideline for growth what you and I want otherwise we can't hold onto our lifestyle." The plan includes portions on land-use, land-use, commercial and industrial development, develop-ment, transportation, sanitation and "ood control with Mr. Tippetts emphasizing empha-sizing growth pattern impacts, then we have to dig tight for money." BUT DAVIS County has led off in several sev-eral areas of planning, w ith Mr. Tippetts serving as planning director in the pioneering years. 1953-1 964. and resuming resum-ing that post last February after leav ing the State Jordan River Parkway Authority. Au-thority. It was the first county served by three sewer improvement districts that aided in growth and was also first in the western west-ern United States to prepare a comprehensive compre-hensive plan. GROWTH IS creating some concerns, con-cerns, such as at the Bay Area Refuse District site (BARD), where no room exists for extensive expansion. Mr. Tippetts Tip-petts said, noting the situation won't reach that point in the north for some time. "We need some other technique (for garbage disposal). We're literally burying ourselves in paper." he said with innovations such as steam-generation steam-generation needed. A COUNTYWIDE flood master plan is being formulated for the county area and its 15 cities. A raindrop may fall in Fruit Heights but it could pass through several communities before reaching the Great Salt Lake, for instance, he said. "Flood control is probably the most expensive of public works. We've had pressures we've got to face," the Farnv ington resident said, recalling the "devastating "de-vastating floods" that caught Farming-ton Farming-ton and Centerville off guard in the 1930's where lives and property were lost and areas washed out from the canyons ca-nyons to the Union Pacific railroad tracks. BUT CORRECTIONS such as are proposed in the flood master plan are never taken seriously, he said, with people peo-ple thinking "it (trouble) happens only to someone else." If your basement gets flooded, then the concern changes. A county recreation plan looks at perhaps utilizing some of the natural channels but right-of-way land must be acquired that could be used for hiking and horseback-riding, running possible from the lake to the mountains, he said. That could include interaction with U.S. Forest Service lands with a Forest Service Ser-vice official indicating desire to renovate reno-vate the Skyline Drive including. Beer, Farmington and other canyons. Volun-. teers would work under Forest Service direction to clear such areas, he explained. ex-plained. INCREASING traffic, bringing Interstate Inter-state 15 to capacity at some period leads, to a need for other roads, including includ-ing the proposed West Valley Highway that could pass near the Bluff Road in Layton, for instance, and near Farming-ton Farming-ton Bay in south councy to the Salt Lake International Airport and Center. Calling a good traffic circulation system sys-tem "Vital" he said, "If we don't have a good circulation system, nothing happens." hap-pens." NOTING THE state's high regard among major industrial location groups and others because of the on-going commitment com-mitment to the work ethic, highly-educated highly-educated labor force and other factors, such as good health facilities, he said, "We've got something the whole world wants to share. We don't want anyone tampering with our lifestyle." But industry must enter into the picture, pic-ture, both to satisfy desires of outsiders and keep all the high school and higher education graduates from leaving, as has laregly happened in the past, Mr. Tippetts said. IN A SURVEY of the 2,000-plus county coun-ty high school graduates. 60 percent said they wanted to attend college or vocational voca-tional school w ith about 600 intending to enter the job market. "Do we have 600 jobs in Davis County, or Ogden or Salt Lake City to satisfy them and us too? Or do we export out highly-skilled, work-ethic work-ethic oriented graduates? "We need between 50-60.000 new jobs each year (statewide). We won't get them unless we move in some very selective industry." But that means changing the concept of industry as a "dirty word," he emphasized. "WE'VE GOT to turn this attitude around if we're going to survive. If we want fire protection, etc., we as individuals indi-viduals can't afford it yet, industry can do a great deal. It's not just heavy industry. indus-try. Fabrication plants can be as attractive attrac-tive as anyone's home or school. It can provide jobs." |