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Show Officials considering industry development Local government officials are seriously considering two aspects of industrial development for the area, and decisions on both appear to be upcoming. The first project which is gaining momentum is work on a proposed Industrial In-dustrial Park complex for Cedar City. A second area of interest in-terest lies in the possibility of forming an industrial development council, to assist Iron County in planning for and inviting industrial growth. "At this point, we need to realize they're two different things we're talking about," said Cedar City Mayor Jack Sawyers, speaking to City and Iron County leaders at a Tuesday morning meeting. While they are two different things, leaders at the session agreed that both entities need to work together to promote local industrial development. Speaking to Iron County Commissioner Dee Cowan, Sawyers remarked: "I can't see why the County wouldn't be a leader in this, instead in-stead of a secondary participant. He stressed the value of industries to the tax base ol Iron County. Cowan agreed: "We want to do our share," he responded. S. Garth Jones, executive secretary of the Cedar City Chamber of Commerce, also stressed County involvement. in-volvement. "It would be foolish to eliminate the County," he explained. Going on he mentioned that some companies don't like to build in a park complex and many want larger land tracts, thus making other areas of the County possible sites for future growth. Members of the Industrial In-dustrial Park Committee met twice during the past week and are formulating their ideas in order to make specific suggestions about industrial in-dustrial growth and planning to the Cedar City Council. A concrete proposal should be forthcoming in lour to six weeks, in-eluding in-eluding recom-mendations recom-mendations on whether to go with a private developer, hire a single individual to make contacts and "sell" the area to industries or handle the project with existing personnel and local citizens. This is the key issue in progress on the park and industrial growth as a whole at this time. "I think we ought to pursue it," said Councilman Coun-cilman Lee Fife. That seems to be the feeling of all involved in looking at a possible park and industrial in-dustrial council. The only question now is what the mode of pursuit will be. On Monday, Peter Cooke, representing Price Development Co., made a presentation to the Industrial Park Committee. He pitched the body on the benefits of developing through Price Development and reiterated an earlier proposal to handle the job. "We continually market our product," Cooke told the group. "It's a tremendous benefit lor you and takes a lot of hard work to attract industry." As mentioned, the Industrial Park Committee Com-mittee and other local leaders will be deciding on what route to take, with private developers such as Price one of the alternatives. Alter reaching that decision, certain types of companies that would be likely candidates for the local area because of geographic, social or other reasons will be targeted and approached. |