Our view: Costly method may work

Our readers might want to file this idea under crazy.

But, it might be a viable one.

One of the greatest challenges facing Green River is the lack of developable commercial land. Sure, there are a number of places that businesses can use to establish themselves in Green River, but we believe land that could be used to build to the needs of a business is needed as well.

One way of going about creating this land would be to level out areas that would otherwise be too topographically challenging to develop upon. A daunting task, truth be told, but one that could spread commercial property to places that otherwise wouldn’t host much of anything.

Green River contains a large number of areas zoned as “O.” The designation refers to open land that would be difficult to locate homes or other structures because of the hills found in those areas. Flattening and leveling an area would open the way for a zone change, thus increasing the amount of land available in the city.

It sounds like a good idea, if someone had the money to spend on such a project. Earth work is one of the most costly projects anyone could embark upon and we’re sure the cost to flatten even a small hill would be very difficult for most developers to swallow. It’s something the city would be better off not initiating because the cost would represent a very far-looking gamble that definitely wouldn’t pay off over night.

However, it would seem someone in Green River’s past thought development could extend up Uinta Drive past the municipal dump.

Much of the land leading up the hill towards the Greater Green River Intergalactic Spaceport is zoned for light industrial and commercial use, yet anyone can easily tell Wyoming Highway 530, which climbs its way up a 7 percent grade towards the top of the hill, is flanked by large hills on either side. Those hills feature rocky outcroppings that would be extremely difficult to remove.

Another idea would be to utilize the land currently occupied by the spaceport and use that to locate a business park overlooking the city. Whether or not that’s a good idea would fall upon someone who thinks could use the land as something more than the emergency airfield it currently is. Driving to the top is slightly out of the way, especially in the winter.

We think Green River needs more developable commercial property, but the way go get there is difficult no matter how one approaches the issue. Leveling hills, building on land currently used as a park or buying up houses to rezone as commercial property, The city can’t just wave a magic wand and make more land available.