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Tooele Valley infrastructure district outlines industrial park buildout, rail and onsite power plans
Summary
Officials and developers presented a progress update on the Tooele Valley Public Infrastructure District’s Burmester industrial park, describing road and utility work, an active rail spur, wastewater treatment plans and a legislative change enabling onsite power for data centers.
Chuck Akerloh, chairman of the Tooele Valley Public Infrastructure District board of trustees, told the Tooele County Commission on March 11 that developers have finished most underground utilities and expect paving and additional construction this year at the Burmester industrial park, adjacent to Interstate 80.
The presentation, which included a drone video, described planned road improvements to connect the park to Burmester Road and the interstate, acceleration and deceleration lanes, and realignment of GSL Drive for safer truck access. “We finished all the undergrounds in November and didn't have any asphalt,” Akerloh said. He added that the district is “just waiting for the permit to be issued by the county.”
The district is also adding rail spurs. Broker James Merrill said the site’s combination of rail access and proximity to I‑80 is attracting building‑supply and manufacturing firms; he identified potential users including a lumberyard, a truss plant and a paper company that would use rail service. Merrill said the rail contractor expects to finish rail work “this summer.”
Akerloh described utility plans for water and wastewater. The district has purchased property for water tanks and a booster pump station; the tank is designed and ordered and delivery timing is “more like September,” he said. The district will treat brackish well water with reverse osmosis and use pressurized sewer lines that pump wastewater to an on‑site Arendco treatment system; treated effluent will be released to an underground leach field as nonpotable reclaimed water. Solid waste from on‑site septic systems, he said, will be hauled off regularly for processing.
Akerloh said the district closed phase 1 land purchases, expects to close on phase 2 within about a month and sees market interest in a range of users including a proposed 50,000‑square‑foot facility for a company that plans to build tiny homes and other large build‑to‑suit projects. He reported a letter of intent with a company for small contained nuclear generators but said the district will start with natural‑gas generators in the near term; “we're using natural gas,” Akerloh said, adding that the generators are “very efficient.”
The presenters also noted a recent legislative change that, they said, allows a project to build a dedicated on‑site power plant to serve data centers without competing on the public grid. Akerloh said that change and the ability to provide local power will benefit potential data center tenants.
Questions from the commission and public focused on timing for water tank delivery, rail completion and how the wastewater system would function given a high local water table. Akerloh and Merrill described engineered setbacks and system design choices made after review by state and federal agencies.
The district did not request formal action at the meeting; the presentation concluded after commissioners and staff took questions.
Ending: Commissioners left the presentation on the record and moved to the next agenda item. The district said it will return with additional updates as construction and tenant negotiations progress.
