Olene Walker Housing Loan Fund Board Approves Funding for 497 Affordable Housing Units in Utah

The Olene Walker Housing Loan Fund Board approved $6,933,092 in low interest loans for housing projects throughout the state of Utah during a funding meeting held here on January 24.

Salt Lake County will be home to many of the approved projects, other projects will be constructed in Grand and Weber Counties. Department of Workforce Services

Council May Fund Ogden Canyon Pipeline Project with $6M Bond

Source: Standard Examiner

Ogden is considering issuing up to $6 million in bonds to pay for the remaining phase of the Ogden Canyon water pipeline project.

The city council voted Tuesday night to approve a resolution that sets the parameters for funding the bonds and sets a public hearing on the matter for Feb. 5.The bonds will not exceed $6 million, a 3.5 percent interest rate or a term of 25 years.

The state of Utah Department of Environmental Quality, Drinking Water Board has already offered to purchase the bonds. The city had previously issued $4 million in bonds to go toward the project.
The state drinking water board also agreed to purchase those bonds at an interest rate of 2.6 percent for a term of 20 years.

It is also expected that $13 million in bond funds will be requested in fiscal year 2014 to pay for the design and construction of a new water treatment plant near the eastern end of the canyon. The water line project began in early November. The city hired Brigham City-based Whitaker Construction for the $8 million project, which is expected to wrap up by April.

The 24-inch pipeline, nearly 100 years old, winds through Ogden Canyon and carries water from Pineview Reservoir to thousands of Ogden residents.

City officials say it’s a major water supply line to the city, but it’s in poor condition, and repairs just can’t be put off any longer.

Ogden City Engineer Justin Anderson said that when this project is finished, it will ensure continual water service for years to come. Standard Examiner

Farmington Letter Firm on West Davis Corridor Interchange Option

As the Utah Department of Transportation presses forward with the environmental study for the West Davis Corridor, Farmington’s elected officials are taking a hard stance about which option they want.

The city recently sent UDOT a detailed letter, outlining their preference for the Shepard Lane interchange option.

The letter, dated Nov. 20, was signed by Mayor Scott Harbertson and all five city council members.
If the West Davis Corridor gets built, it will include an interchange off Interstate 15 that connects to the road in Farmington and southern Kaysville.

The state will build the interchange at either Glovers Lane or Shepard Lane.

Farmington leaders say the Glovers Lane option spells disaster for their city.

Harbertson said the city has already based many of its future businesses and transportation plans on an interchange at Shepard Lane.

If UDOT chooses the Glovers Lane option, Farmington says, it will divert potential revenue away from the Station Park retail center.


The Glovers Lane option would create corridor exits in Kaysville and Centerville instead of Farmington.

The city also says that having no exits off the road for 10 miles, which is what the Glovers option would do, is a safety issue because it would limit the areas where emergency responders can get off the highway.

The letter also points out that, in the next three years, a new elementary school is set to be built in the area, which will require an access road to and from Glovers Lane.

That access road would be impacted if an interchange is built at Glovers Lane.

The Davis School District has also informed Farmington that it is attempting a bond cycle that would bring a new high school to the city in 2018.

City officials say a high school would significantly impact west-side transportation patterns and that the Glovers Lane alignment would significantly restrict opportunities for road connections in the area.

Finally, the city says that the Glovers Lane option would cost taxpayers more money because it would require an additional connector road between I-15 and the corridor.

Harbertson said the city submitted the letter in hopes that the concerns would be addressed before UDOT finishes its draft Environmental Impact Statement.

WDC Project Manager Randy Jeffries said all information from project stakeholders is valued and seriously considered.

A decision has not been made on the road, Jeffries said, and the state will choose the option that best serves the entire Top of Utah region.

UDOT hopes to complete the draft EIS on the road by the spring.

Once the EIS is complete, UDOT will submit the report to the Federal Highway Administration.
A final route decision is expected in spring 2014. Standard Examiner

HomeDepot.com's Ogden service and sales center to open Saturday

One of HomeDepot.com’s two worldwide customer service and sales centers will officially open for business Saturday, eventually bringing over 700 jobs with it.

A “board-cutting” ceremony will be held at noon Saturday at the center’s recently completed 100,000-square-foot building in Business Depot Ogden, 801 Depot Drive.

Ogden Business Development Manager Steve Fishburn said the event will be attended by Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, Lt. Gov. Greg Bell, Mayor Mike Caldwell, other city officials and Hal Lawton, HomeDepot.com’s president and CEO.

Peter Makowski, a project coordinator with Ogden’s community and economic development department,
said HomeDepot.com has already hired 200 employees to fill positions that are immediately needed to begin operations, and the company hopes to fill 500 more positions by early next year. Standard Examiner

Ogden approves $108,000 to promote airport, Allegiant Travel Company

With commercial flights scheduled to take off in September, the city is giving the Ogden-Hinckley Airport a little boost.

Earlier this week the city council voted to amend the city’s Outdoor  Recreation Company Assistance Program to allow money from the  program to be pushed to the airport and the Allegiant Travel Company,  who on Sept. 20 will begin commercial jet service between Ogden and  Phoenix, twice a week.

Specifically, the city will take $108,000 from its Business Promotion/Direct Marketing account and use it to provide matching funds for cooperative advertising between the city and Allegiant.

The ORCA program began in 2008 to recruit and provide assistance to outdoor companies moving to Ogden.

Under the new proposal, the name of the ORCA program will be changed to the Relocation Assistance Program. Standard Examiner

Digital media publisher's CEO plans to double workforce in Ogden

A company that produces news and reviews reaching more than 25 million Internet visitors has landed a $33 million investment that will allow it to double its local workforce. The funds were granted by ABC Capital toTechMediaNetwork Inc. Company officials the 8-year-old company plans to use the money to hire as many Ogden employees as managers can find that have the skills it needs. TechMediaNetwork now has just more than 200 employees. Of those, 110 are in Utah at the Ogden office and in American Fork. Another 90 work in New York. Ogden Standard-Examiner

Utah offers incentives to lure hundreds of new jobs

The state of Utah on Thursday approved an incentive of as much as $3.2 million for Lifetime Products Inc., which plans to add 282 jobs in Davis County in the coming years. The company, which already has 1,700 employees in Clearfield, accepted the state’s incentive offer immediately after it was approved by the Governor’s Office of Economic Development Board, which reviews incentive applications and is made up of business people and community leaders. State officials said the average wage of the new jobs is about $41,800 annually, including benefits. The company anticipates adding about 40 people a year over the next two decades.

The economic development board also improved an incentive of as much as $2.2 million for SAIC, a Fortune 500 technology company that also already has a presence in Utah and has plans to expand. As with Lifetime, SAIC company officials said they accept the state’s incentive offer. The company said it plans to add nearly 300 new full-time technology positions over the next 10 years and make a $10 million capital investment in an expansion in Salt Lake, Davis or Utah county. Average wage for the new jobs at SAIC is about $52,000 annually, including benefits, state officials said. Salt Lake Tribune

A third incentive of as much as $522,000 was approved for The Home Depot, which said it plans to open a customer service center in Ogden to handle calls. The company accepted Utah’s incentive offer, payable over 10 years in the form of a tax credit. A spokeswoman said a facility in Ogden will handle inbound customer-service calls and employ nearly 700 people, 600 of which are expected to be hired by fall of next year. Hiring for those positions will begin in August 2012. Only 181 jobs out of the nearly 700 being added by The Home Depot meet the income threshold set by the state for companies receiving incentive money. The incentive money is based on those 181 positions, which average about $41,000 annually, including benefits, the state said.

Gold's Gym replaces Ace Hardware in Syracuse

Syracuse is losing its Ace Hardware store, but gaining a Gold's Gym at the same location. The Ace store at 1792 S. 1000 West will close after today, with owners moving its remaining inventory and some employees to the Ace Hardware store at 1330 E. U.S. Highway 193, Layton.

Gold's Gym of Northern Utah plans to lease the store property and open that ownership's fourth location. Gold's Gym has announced it intends on renovating that space in preparation for a Nov. 1 gym opening. Ogden Standard-Examiner

CSN Stores LLC officially opens in Ogden

CSN Stores LLC, the nation's second-largest online retailer of home goods officially opened a 50,000-square-foot customer service and distribution center at 550 S. Depot Drive in Business Depot Ogden. The Boston-based company has been operating since May at the facility that will serve the Western region. About 100 area workers have been hired for the new facility and another 260 are slated to be employed by the fall of 2012. CSN employees at the Ogden facility handle in-bound sales and customer service inquiries as well as product receiving and shipping. CSN still has about 800 employees at its Boston headquarters. Ogden Standard-Examiner

New Farmington theater complex

Cinemark will open its complex Cinemark will open its complex July 15 at the southern end of Station Park in Farmington. The 54,000-square-foot complex is the second major business to open at Station Park, which is expected to bring a diverse mix of commercial enterprises to Davis County. The new complex will feature Cinemark NextGen theater auditoriums with wall-to-wall screens, 100 percent digital projection and an enhanced sound system equipped with 7.1 digital surround sound. Ogden Standard Examiner

Convergys hosts Ogden job fair to fill 220 spots

Convergys hopes to fill 220 full- and part-time positions at its Ogden contact center. The company is hosting an open job fair from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday. The fair will be at the company's 1400 W. 4400 South location. The company is looking for candidates with sales experience to provide customer service and sales support for a company client in the cable and satellite industry .Anyone interested can also apply online at www.convergys.com/careers. Ogden Standard-Examiner

New restaurant coming to Layton

Happy Hashi, a new Japanese steakhouse, is scheduled to open near Layton Hills Mall this summer. The owners have submitted building plans to the city, and the restaurant will fill the vacant building that once housed Second National Bank at 630 W. North Ring Road, just north of the mall. Ogden Standard Examiner

Officials in Layton praise arrival of new hotel

The second Home2 Suites by Hilton celebrated its grand opening Tuesday in Layton. Executives from Home2 Suites and hotel owners Western States Lodging joined several city and Davis County officials to celebrate the opening of Layton's first new hotel in seven years. The hotel will not be the newest one in the city for long. Dixon Pitcher, who is the co-owner of the Best Western in Uintah, said he is building a new hotel just south of the new Home2 Suites.

New Jobs In Ogden and Salt Lake County

Boston-based CSN Stores — an online retailer of home and office goods — announced Monday the opening of a new, 80,000-square-foot customer care and distribution center in Ogden. The company is currently hiring sales, service consultants, supervisors and other positions. It says it will hire more than 100 people. Current openings can be found at csnstores.com.
Also, CompHealth — a provider of temporary and permanent physician staffing — is hosting a job fair on Thursday, April 14, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., 6440 South Millrock Drive, 4th Floor, in Salt Lake County. The event is open to the public is primarily to fill sales/recruiting positions for the division. For more information visit, chghealthcare.com. KSL TV

Edward Jones Opens In Morgan City

An Edward Jones branch has opened in Morgan City to help local people invest their money. The office is located in Morgan at 256 N. State St. #H, a couple of doors down from Luis’ Restaurant, and across the street from Ace Hardware. --The Morgan County News

For Utah hoteliers, 2010 better but not real good

Compared with a year earlier, occupancy rates last month were up 1.7 percent statewide and 2.6 percent in Salt Lake County. With those lukewarm results, hotels statewide finished the year with a 59.7 percent occupancy rate, up from 56.9 percent in 2009. Although an improvement, the number of rooms filled nightly remained significantly below levels in 2008 (63.7 percent) and 2007 (68.4 percent). In addition, the downturn continued to impact the amount of money hoteliers could charge for their rooms. The average nightly room rate in 2010 was $93.29, about 75 cents cheaper than a year earlier but $5 a night below the going rate in 2008.

The Lodging Report breaks Utah down into nine areas. Six regions had better years in 2010 than in ’09, led by 4.9 percent gains in Logan and 4.4 percent gains in St. George. Scattered hotels outside of Utah’s main metropolitan areas did even better, filling 5.2 percent more rooms than a year earlier. Small declines occurred in Ogden and Davis County. Salt Lake Tribune