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Show Land Apportionment Disappoints U i V JOAN NELSON Chronicle Staff Writer The 230 acres of surplus U.S. government land at Ft. Douglas awarded to Utah Saturday is only part of the 626 acres applied for and needed by the University. Secretary of Interior Steward L. Udall announced the land's release late Friday in Washington, D.C. The University and the state first applied for the land four years ago. The actual release was aided by Sen. Frank E. Moss (D-Utah) and Gov. Calvin L. Rampton. The University planned to use 62 acres of the land for academic expansion, ex-pansion, 122 acres for the State Arboretum and 402 acres for the research re-search park. Fifty acres would be used for roads and utilities. 362 Acres Needed Ralph Mecham, vice president of economic and commercial development, develop-ment, said the University needs a minimum of 362 acres. Sixty-two of the acres would be used for expansion ex-pansion of the medical school, located lo-cated east of the fort. A minimum 300 acres would be required for the research park. The State Arboretum will be run by the University. It would include 112 acres along the banks of Red Butte Creek that are too steep to use for anything else. Stimulate Economy The research park will be modeled model-ed after one at Stanford University. Univer-sity. The University would lease land to 55 private corporations. The project would open up about 12,000 jobs in scientific and engineering research. "The companies like the intellec-tua intellec-tua atmosphere," said Mr. Mecham. Mech-am. "They would stimulate local economy. The public would also get a return on their investment in the University. It would bring more people to the University and would give places of employment to our graduates. The project is an effort by the University to help get Utah out of the period of stagnation we are experiencing." No Word Uttered According to Mr. Mecham, project pro-ject director at the University, the first the University heard about the lond release was in the week-end city newspapers. The University expected the release, but didn't know how much land or its location to be turned over to the school. "We're puzzled. A lot of questions ques-tions still remain unanswered," said Mr. Mecham. "We're pleased about the activity, but we're disappointed that we didn't get what we regard as our minimum." The Bureau of Mines and the State Park Department also requested re-quested Ft. Douglas property, but under Senate Bill 211 of the last state Legislature, the land must be sold to the University. "We are puzzled about how they are going to get around this," said Mr. Mecham. "It is state law that no one else can get the land but the University of Utah." At a press conference held at the Must Receive Land State Capitol Saturday morning, Sen. Moss and Gov. Rampton said the Bureau of Land Management had officially released the property to Utah. The decision made the land "public domain." Sen. Moss said disposition of the land is now available avail-able for Utah in conformity with the Recreation and Public Purposes Pur-poses Act. Gov. Rampton called the land the most valuable in the state. He estimated the land, if sold on the common market, would be worth from $2,000 to $10,000 an acre, depending de-pending on the location. The U.S. Government wil charge the University Uni-versity $2.50 an acre. |