After last Thursday’s Airport Business Park workshop with the Saratoga Town Council, a focus group composed of the Saratoga Planning Commission, Saratoga/Carbon County Impact Water and Sewer Joint Powers Board, and the Saratoga Airport Board will proceed to public hearings. The hearings were scheduled for last evening’s Saratoga Town Council meeting but the results were  not available for today’s edition of the Saratoga Sun.

Town Engineer Chuck Bartlett showed the group the diagram of the proposed business park, stating that the infrastructure would cost nearly three million dollars.

Bartlett said the businesses would lease the acreages to erect offices, but there will be architectural standards that the businesses must adhere to when in the construction phase.

“We need to determine what kind of facilities we would like to have in the business park,” Bartlett said, “and the initial talks have been aimed towards a light industrial park.”

“If we can get a finalized plan of the business park, when grant funding becomes available we will be ready to submit a proposal.”

Councilman Ed Glode said the business park has been in initial planning stages for several years. He added there is a question of how to separate the park from the residential areas located to the south.

Jack Sintek, airport board member, said in the late 1970s there was a push to establish a business park at the airport. Sintek said the business park progressed along, at the time, until the residents to the south began to protest its construction.

“There were rumors of heavy industrial business and hog farms,” Sintek recalled, “the opposition was huge.”

Glode and Bartlett advised the group that there will be permitted uses, and only businesses falling under light industrial will be allowed to lease the parcels.

Airport Board Member Lee Tromble said the airport was built as not to be visually offensive, thus, he has reservations on allowing outside storage for these proposed businesses.

“I could envision boats and campers parked outside of these businesses, and I am not interested in having that,” Tromble expounded.

Councilwoman Judy Welton and Glode also discussed the idea of having large business sub-lease office space to smaller businesses that may not have the start-up money available.

Mike Patterson, airport board member, asked Bartlett who would be in charge of making sure these businesses are compliant to construction and lease terms. Bartlett answered by stating the town and the airport board would be very involved the process.

Patterson went on to say the town ‘had his blessing” in moving forward with the business park plans, as “Saratoga is an attractive and desirable place to do business within.”

Bartlett said the main idea of the business park was to generate jobs and revenue for the town of Saratoga. He said monies earned from the lease contracts would be put back into the airport and projects within that scope.