Rise Baking seeks CRA designation, offers $40M expansion and 170 jobs in Pleasant View

Representatives of Rise Baking Company detailed plans Sept. 9 to expand their Pleasant View manufacturing facility and requested that the city create a community reinvestment area (CRA) and allocate 50% of the new property‑tax increment for 15 years to support the project.

Travis Bauer, speaking for Rise, described the company as an industrial bakery manufacturer that supplies cookie dough and icings to retailers and private‑label customers. He said the expansion would add roughly 116,000 square feet to bring the plant to about 260,000 square feet, double site headcount with about 170 new full‑time jobs, and represent approximately $40 million in total capital investment (roughly $22 million for the building and $20 million for production equipment).

Rise presented a rough fiscal model projecting approximately $5.5 million in new property tax revenue over 15 years from the expansion; Rise requested that 50% of that increment—about $1.4 million to $1.53 million, according to alternative models—be redirected to a CRA to fund local infrastructure and site improvements. Company representatives also said they are pursuing separate state incentives through the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity’s EdTech (economic development) program; those state incentives would be distinct from the property‑tax increment discussed with the city.

City staff described parts of the proposed investment that would target conservation and infrastructure: Andrea, a city staff member, said “roughly a quarter of it is going to be for water conservation, electrical conservation, infrastructure,” as part of the company’s environmental mitigation and infrastructure plans. The presentation noted existing product lines at the Pleasant View plant (buttercream and glaze icings, frozen cookie dough) and the company’s role as a national producer with R&D centers.

Council members asked detailed questions about the CRA request—why 15 years and 50%, how the CRA would interact with Weber County and other taxing entities, and whether the city would be the primary contributor to the CRA. Staff and the presenters said the CRA would require interlocal agreements, that other taxing entities (county, school district, special districts) can approve different terms, and that the city’s proposed CRA would capture new increment only (not existing tax on the building). Planning commission members present had recommended support at the earlier hearing.

Next steps identified in the meeting included preparing the CRA area resolution, conducting a financial analysis and interlocal outreach with other taxing entities, and scheduling the public hearings and formal votes required to establish a CRA and sign interlocal agreements. Council members expressed general support for moving forward with study and negotiations but did not adopt a final CRA resolution at the Sept. 9 meeting.