LAYTON — At Hill AFB, the jobs picture is rosy, even “precedent-setting.”

That was the message shared with hundreds of Northern Utah small business owners, including many from Davis County, last week by Maj. Gen. Andrew Busch.

The commander of the Ogden Air Logistics Center at the base was the keynote speaker for a procurement symposium sponsored by state economic development officials.

“Hill is the most successful ALC (air logistics center) for contracts with small business,” Busch said, having served at all three facilities.

He said contracts have been let recently with several hundred small Utah-based businesses worth well over $100 million.

“There is a lot going on at OALC,” he said, noting more than 22,000 people are employed “inside the wire,” or within the base. Those are civilian federal employees, contractors and military.

They’re involved in everything from maintaining F-16s and other aircraft, to working as software engineers, to thousands of others supporting the military mission, Busch said.

“There are many defense-related missions, including engineering, logistics, depot maintenance, with ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missiles) being a significant mission,” the brigadier general said.

And tens of thousands of additional jobs are still looked at in the near future, thanks to pending development of what he termed the “precedent-setting” Falcon Hill project.

That mammoth project will cover 550 acres adjacent to the base, stretching from Clearfield and Sunset in Davis County into the southern end of Weber County, Busch emphasized.

Because of “underutilized” land, in federal terms, the Air Force’s largest Enhanced Use program is under way, Busch said.

Hundreds of construction workers will be hired initially to help with demolition of 134 World War-II era base buildings housing about 6,000 employees, currently.

That 10 million square feet will be replaced by new offices, warehouses, etc., along with other new buildings, he said.

For example, construction is due to start soon on a Security Forces building on base as well as an ICBM-related facility.

As a part of the project, the base’s west gate and accompanying roadway will be moved east, pushing the gate back and allowing for more development.

“Eleven million dollars has been set aside to help with the infrastructure to realign the west gate,” thanks to Utah legislative appropriations, Busch said.

“This project is designed to create an opportunity for aerospace companies and others to co-locate more closely to the base,” he said. “There are a number of projects that are absolutely ready to bid.”

Job estimates of up to 20,000 new positions within the next 20 years have been announced, with tens of thousands of others possible.

The Military Installation Defense Authority is spearheading the public-private partnership. It is based in Kaysville and chaired by recently-appointed state senator Stuart Adams of Layton. Its CEO is Rick Mayfield of Fruit Heights.

“There is a lot of ebb and flow” in workload at the OALC , Busch said. “We always do maintenance, weapons system work, are in a constant state of transition,” he said.

And while production of more F-22s has been put on hold, there is still “a tremendous amount of investment, great amount of workload” for those aircraft already approved and built, Busch emphasized.

And signaling other continuing expansion efforts on base, a ribbon cutting is due soon on a new software facility, he said, calling future work opportunities there “very promising.”

“The future is very bright,” Busch added.

tbusselberg@davisclipper.com