Wasatch County Council Chair Erik Rowland has officially joined the Military Installation Development Authority board.  Rowland’s appointment to the board comes after Karl McMillan, who held both positions, resigned from the County Council in April, citing serious health problems. The MIDA b oard reserves one seat for a Wasatch County councilor, which Rowland accepted as chair of the County Council. “Unfortunately it’s not the best situation to have that appointment,” Rowland said. “He’s not doing so well, so our thoughts are with him right now.” Rowland attended his first MIDA board meeting on Friday morning. He said he is just getting started with MIDA operations and working as a liaison between the County Council and the MIDA board. The county councilor said, as chair, he was interested in the appointment because he wants to better understand MIDA’s processes and “the cadence of how things work.” “I thought it would be appropriate to be able to have that direct connection with the MIDA board because it is the largest project happening right now,” Rowland said. He’s referring to the Deer Valley East Village project and development by MIDA. In nearly 10 years, MIDA will be nearly finished with the 6,200 units currently planned for development, which was 22% complete in May 2025.  Homes, townhomes, hotels and condos will be spread across six zones in the Jordanelle Basin. Numbers stand at 196 homes, 861 townhomes or condos, 230 hotel room units and 143 hotel condos, which are privately owned but attached to a hotel. The build-out date is sure to be after 2035.  By then there will be 1,267 homes, 3,240 townhomes or condos, 1,358 hotel room units and 314 hotel condos. Nearly 95% of development will occur sometime between the 2034 Winter Olympic Games and the county’s 175th anniversary in 2037. “It’s important that I think everyone understands just how much influence that has. It’s currently redefined the future of the county,” Rowland said. “We’ve gone from kind of a quiet mountain town to a resort town.” With Deer Valley Resort now just up the road from the Heber Valley, Rowland said there’s also pressure to increase the county’s workforce and to increase affordable housing. There’s also pressure on traffic needs and infrastructure, he said.Rowland said, even in his first MIDA board meeting on Friday, there is a good deal that he wants to weigh in on and share with MIDA board members.  “There’s a lot of moving pieces that cause the board to be very influential in how it shapes our county,” Rowland said. “(To) be able to have a voice to advocate for the county … that was important to me.” If the board is promoting itself as a “public good,” Rowland said, then there needs to be “more effort to really advertise that.” “So that people understand, what does that mean,” Rowland said.  Next steps for Rowland include sitting down with board members to better understand their role and how operations work within the board.  Meanwhile, MIDA did not discuss the controversial multibillion-dollar data center project backed by celebrity investor Kevin O’Leary that would be located in Box Elder County. The post Wasatch County Councilor Erik Rowland joins MIDA board appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less