Full Text
Background Millcreek is Utah’s newest city. The city incorporated in 2017, after the community voted to become a city. The Economic Development team started out with one member: former West Valley City Mayor and economic development professional Mike Winder. The Economic Development Department has grown to four over the past four years and now encompasses business licensing and business council outreach. Achievement Shortly after Millcreek incorporated, they adopted the Millcreek General Plan. Part of this master plan focused on creating a city center. Millcreek found that the heart of Millcreek lay along 3300 S between Highland Drive and 1300 E. As they were exploring redeveloping this area, they discovered a significant fault line that ran right through the middle of this desirable piece of land. Instead of giving up, Millcreek decided to take the lemons and turn them into lemonade. What if a city plaza and open space could be created along the fault line? What if an incredible public investment like that could become the economic catalyst for the whole area? Millcreek’s decision to create a public open space drew the community together. They received a great response from the surrounding community and developers. Not only did this spur excitement with residents, but it sparked the development community to action. In just a few short years there are two projects under construction, and six other projects in the process of development just within a half mile radius of the new Millcreek City Center, Millcreek Common. In a little over a year Millcreek was able to purchase the 48 properties located in the heart of this space all without using eminent domain. The Millcreek Economic Development team were able to successfully help businesses on these properties relocate to new locations, which in some cases have turned out to be better than the original location for the business. Many colleagues have commented on how impressive this achievement is in such a short amount of time. Millcreek contracted with Environmental Planning Group to design Millcreek Common, with the idea that construction would be completed in the Fall of 2021. The Millcreek Economic Development team’s leadership on this project has been instrumental in keeping the project on track for completion in the Fall of 2021. To date all buildings on the 48 properties have been demolished, hazardous waste removed, and EPG has finalized the 100% construction documents, which have been put out to bid. Millcreek is well on the way to completing this incredible regional asset for the surrounding community. One aspect of the design for Millcreek Common is a large ice ribbon consisting of about 11,000 sf of ice. This ice ribbon will exceed the Gallivan center ice rink, which consists of 9,000 sf of ice. Under the Millcreek Economic Development team’s leadership, Millcreek was able to secure $500,000 in grant monies from the Utah Outdoor Recreation Grant to help construct this amazing amenity for the public. Not only has the Millcreek Economic Development team been instrumental in the City Center project, but they have been the lead in creating the Millcreek City Center Community Reinvestment Area surrounding the Millcreek Common project. The creation of the Millcreek City Center CRA allowed Millcreek to take out a $20,000,000 bond to help pay for the construction of Millcreek Common. All the tax increment will go towards paying for the public space, thus enabling Millcreek to pay for Millcreek Common without taking a cent out of taxpayers’ pockets. The Millcreek Economic Development team also launched the Millcreek Business Council. The Millcreek Business Council is like a chamber of commerce, except that every business that has an active license in Millcreek is automatically a member without paying dues. This council consists of an executive committee, and eight subcommittees. These committees meet every other month, and work to help the community and business community make Millcreek a better place. These committees have successfully hosted webinars, in-person events with over 250 attendees, in person job fairs, a business of the month program, buy one get one coupon opportunities for Millcreek businesses, and hosted Senator Mitt Romney and Congressman Ben McAdams as keynote speakers. Millcreek’s Business License Department is also part of Millcreek’s Economic Development team. The Business License Department over the last few months have reduced the time it takes to receive a business license by a week. This increase in speed has helped many businesses start their operations quicker than they anticipated. During the pandemic, the Millcreek Economic Development team worked with the Business License Administrator to defer payments of business license fees for businesses that were struggling due to a loss of revenue or closures. As a new city, Millcreek is determined to be problem solvers instead of bureaucrats! ---PAGE BREAK--- The pandemic caused significant problems for many of Millcreek’s businesses. The Millcreek Economic Development team invented the Millcreek Small Business Retail Grant as a way to steer CARES Act funds to help businesses with advertising costs. To make sure that businesses were informed about this incredible opportunity, the team mailed out over 1,000 flyers, visited in person, and called over 400 businesses to spread the word. Not only did the Millcreek Economic Development Department share information about the Millcreek grant, but they also informed businesses about Salt Lake County’s Small Business Impact Grant, and the State’s Shop in Utah Grant. Over 150 businesses started the application, and 132 businesses qualified for the $10,000 Small Business Retail Grant. Despite its size, Millcreek was only second to Salt Lake City, with 94 business that were awarded money from Salt Lake County’s Small Business Impact Grant. Many businesses used the Small Business Retail Grant money to update outdoor signs, business cards, websites, logos, and t-shirts. Cindy Dumas from Marissa’s Books stated, “Thank you so much!!! This means so much to us at Marissa’s Books. We are so happy to be in the Millcreek Community and cannot wait to see what our store can do. Thank you.. Thank you…Thank you!” Another business owner, Suzi Sands from Aviva Woman stated after receiving her grant award letter, “Thank you so so very much for the good news! This is why I love having a business in Millcreek. I can tell the City cares about my success so that the city can grow as well. I’ve done business in other cities and have never felt this level of care and support, which is needed now more than ever. So thank you once again, ever so much.” Between the county and city grant program, over 200 Millcreek small businesses received COVID relief (plus whatever else they received from state programs like Shop in Utah and federal programs like PPP). Millcreek took care of their businesses better per capita during the pandemic than any city in the state! Innovation When Millcreek was made aware of a fault line that ran directly through a prime developable parcel, they decided to be creative. Instead of resigning themselves that nothing would be developed, they decided to use this unique situation to create a public space for the community. Millcreek took a bleak situation and turned it into an incredible opportunity to take a tired area and turn it into a thriving city center. The process to acquire property can be extremely difficult to complete quickly, but Millcreek built positive relationships with all the landowners, which opened the opportunity for Millcreek to purchase all 48 properties without using eminent domain in a matter of about nine months. Developers that talked with Millcreek have noted how amazing it is that the City was able to purchase 48 properties in less that a year, especially since 36 of the properties were part of a condo association. Millcreek’s innovative and friendly attitude allowed the city to succeed in record time with an extremely difficult task. Millcreek is currently on schedule to complete the City Center project by the end of 2021. The Millcreek Economic Development Department was also the very first city in Utah to offer a grant to struggling businesses during the pandemic. The City created a grant program to offer retail businesses $5,000 to help with advertising costs. Due to more funds than anticipated, Millcreek was able to change the award amount to $10,000. Over 130 businesses applied and were granted $10,000 to help pay for advertising costs. Millcreek’s Economic Development Department’s creativity with CARES Act funding helped many struggling businesses get the word out to their patrons that they were open for business. This allowed Millcreek to retain businesses that may have closed due to the overwhelming struggles with the pandemic. The Millcreek Economic Development Department also created a business council instead of the normal chamber of commerce model that many cities use to give their businesses a platform to connect and get involved. The Millcreek Business Council is free to join for all businesses that have an active business license in Millcreek. Any of these businesses may participate on one of the 8 committees or serve on the Executive Committee if they chair a committee. Because the Millcreek Business Council is free, they can put on many events and activities that are not focused on generating revenue. This allows the committees to be creative and focus on what businesses need, rather than what will support the council financially. The Millcreek Business Council hosted many diverse events to support and help businesses engage with the community. Quality Millcreek’s Economic Development Department is dedicated to improving and uplifting the quality of life in Millcreek. Millcreek’s slogan is “Connected by Nature.” Millcreek’s boundaries go from the Wasatch Mountains all the way to the Jordan River. As such, Millcreek desires to find ways to connect its residents to the outdoors. Just in the last year, Millcreek’s Economic Development team has worked with Salt Lake County to build the trail along Millcreek’s portion of the Jordan River. This trail will provide an often-overlooked population with outdoor amenities to improve their quality of life. Not only has the economic development team been heavily involved in creating a trail along the Jordan River, but ---PAGE BREAK--- they have also been one of the main driving forces for Millcreek’s new City Center project. This project will create an open plaza space where residents and community members can come to recreate, shop, and pause to enjoy the outdoors. This new space has brought developers from all over to liven up and beautify the area. Millcreek anticipates that after all the development is complete there will be over 1,000 new residential units that are part of mixed-use projects. These developments will help build up the housing supply, add retail to support residential and commercial customers, and bring jobs to this new and developing area. Along with jobs and housing, Millcreek Common will be a place to recreate and enjoy the outdoors. Millcreek Common will be programed continually with events, and activities for residents and community members of all ages. One of these activities is an ice ribbon, which is larger than the ice at the Gallivan Center. The nearest ice rink/ribbon is 3.41 miles away from Millcreek Common. Even though Millcreek is Utah’s newest city, most of the infrastructure is decades old, and Millcreek itself lacks open spaces for residents to recreate on. The Millcreek Economic Development team took a tired area, and is revitalizing it with outdoor recreation, and open space. Millcreek’s Economic Development team works on the large and small scale by creating events through the Millcreek Business Council to support the community, and environment. The Millcreek Business Council works with the Department of Workforce Services to create an in-person job fair to help residents and employers. The event draws employers from all over the city and county but is setup in an intimate way to help facilitate crucial interactions between employers and prospective employees. The job fair usually has around 30 employers seeking prospective employees, and an average of 70 job seekers attend. The Millcreek Business Council partnered with the Jordan River Commission to launch a new campaign to encourage residents and business owners to clean up trash and debris around their homes or businesses on the first Friday of the month. The first event was held at the beginning of October 2020 in Millcreek. The project is titled #LoveYourWatershed, and the Jordan River Commission is working with students from the University of Utah to expand the project to other cities along the river. The Millcreek Business Council will host an Earth Day event on April 24, 2021 in partnership with the Jordan River Commission. At this event volunteers will help clean up trash and debris as part of the #LoveYourWatershed campaign. Millcreek’s Economic Development team is dedicated to improving Millcreek’s community on a large and small scale. There is no project to large or small for the team if it will improve the quality of life for those who enjoy our community.