Controversy delays Idaho high-tech corridor plans

A high-tech business park three miles east of Jerome could make Magic Valley look more like Silicon Valley, regional economic development officials say. But more funding is necessary for the project to get off the ground.

Jerome city officials and the Southern Idaho Economic Development Organization unveiled more plans Monday for the Southern Idaho Telecom Corridor, a 16-mile stretch of land running from the Jerome Butte to Falls Avenue in Twin Falls.

Megan Hinds
Times-News writer

http://www.magicvalley.com/news/business/index.asp?StoryID=4798

The corridor, known as the SITC, would contain two proposed developments: the Crossroads Point project and the Southern Idaho Technology Park, said Jan Rogers, executive director of SIEDO.

Anchoring the high-tech business corridor would be more than 10 miles of fiber optic cable following U.S. Highway 93, linking the Southern Idaho Technology Park to the College of Southern Idaho, said Jerome City Administrator Travis Rothweiler.

In 2002, AT&T and the city of Jerome announced a new Point of Presence — or PoP — at the Jerome Butte. The PoP upgraded AT&T’s fiber optic cable intersection in Jerome and was established with the plan to lure high-tech businesses to the area.

The fiber optic cable would be a boon to area schools as well as existing businesses, Rothweiler said. CSI, Dell Inc.’s technical-support center and Glanbia Foods Inc.’s research and development center would compose the southern end of the SITC.

In addition to the two planned high-tech developments would be the proposed 25-bed St. Benedicts Family Medical Center at Crossroads Point. One of the original components of the project, St. Benedicts reached an agreement to purchase 30 acres in the area in April 2002. The hospital hopes to break ground on the project in late July or early August.

The nearly $10.4 million project has been in the works for about three years but has been delayed due to funding issues, said Carleen Herring, economic development division manager for Region IV Development.

The city of Jerome is in the final application process for a $2.7 million grant from the federal Economic Development Administration to fund the creation of sewer and water access to the technology park and Crossroads Point areas, upgrading Jerome’s wastewater treatment plant and installing the fiber optic cable. EDA grants are designed to provide money to cities to create infrastructure for new jobs.

But a competing hospital, Twin Falls County-owned Magic Valley Regional Medical Center, contends that federal money shouldn’t benefit the Jerome hospital.

The outcome of the EDA grant application was further delayed this month when EDA officials learned of the controversy surrounding construction of the St. Benedicts facility, Rothweiler said. The grant application will be on hold unless Magic Valley Regional Medical Center rescinds its letter sent to the EDA protesting the grant’s approval, he said.

"The EDA doesn’t like to deal with controversy," Herring said.

Original plans for the entire telecom corridor, estimated at about $11.54 million, included establishing a small-business incubator at the technology park, said Jerry Beck, CSI’s executive vice president. The CSI-sponsored incubator is designed to train individuals in all aspects of starting and maintaining a small business. The proposed incubator will now be located near the St. Benedicts facility, instead.

The scaled-back plans put more of the project’s funding into the hands of the city of Jerome, said Scott Bybee, city engineer. The city has invested about $652,000 in the project thus far, he said.

"The difference between the EDA and the final total is Jerome’s responsibility," Bybee said. "But at this point, we’re tapped out."

Times-News business writer Megan Hinds can be reached at 735-3238 or [email protected].