A big question mark hangs over the future of the University of Utah’s Research Park, imperiling a critical economic driver for Utah, U President Taylor Randall told a congressional committee on Tuesday. The university is at risk of losing control of the complex thanks to federal agencies’ new interpretations of the century-old law under which the U was granted the tract that the park has occupied for 55 years.

“The Research Park contributes significantly to the development of new technologies and facilitates valuable academic and research collaborations among private companies and university faculty members and students,” Randall testified before the House Natural Resources Committee. Absent congressional intervention, this success could be lost and ambitious plans for growth, which include housing and a transit hub, could be derailed.

“Currently, the cumbersome regulations basically leave Research Park locked in time, unable to update to the needs that are evolving,” Randall told lawmakers. “It would become difficult to attract the right talent. It would be difficult to upgrade facilities. Some of the things that we need to do now are upgrade transportation infrastructure, but also locate workforce housing for graduate students and amenities for individuals who want to live in that research park so that it becomes a thriving innovation district.”

In 1968, the U.S. Department of the Interior transferred to the university 593 acres of federal land under the Recreation and Public Purposes Act, or RPPA. At the time, this land nestled against the foothills southeast of the main campus was an undeveloped tract of the Fort Douglas Military Reservation. The stated purpose for the land transfer was to support academic expansion, an arboretum and the development of a research park.

However, the land patent issued by the Bureau of Land Management contained this provision, which is now coming back to haunt U officials: “If the lands are devoted to a use other than that for which the lands were conveyed, without the consent of the Secretary of the Interior or his delegate, title shall revert to the United States.”

In recent years, the BLM has raised concerns that the land uses previously authorized, as well as some of the critical improvements the U now proposes, may not be allowed under RPPA. The University of Utah Research Park Act, or H.R. 2876, sponsored by Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, seeks to clarify that a research park is indeed a valid use under the law. It would also allow other potential uses consistent with a research park, including student housing and a transit hub.

“The University of Utah’s Research Park has been instrumental in putting Utah on the map for innovation, research and development,” Moore said in a statement. “It is imperative that we support Research Park and the university’s future needs.”

Utah Sens. Mike Lee and  John Curtis are shepherding a Senate version.

Research parks, or innovation districts, are common, yet vital ancillaries to major universities across the country, Randall told the House committee. They typically provide buildings for lease by private companies, incubators supporting newly formed companies, laboratory space, as well as recreation and other amenities for park community members, such as cafes, coffee shops, retail stores and housing and transportation services.     

“Research parks support new and emerging growth companies that commercialize university technologies, promote further development of those technologies and create tremendous employment opportunities,” Randall said. The U is now planning to extend a TRAX rail line into the park, which may have plenty of parking, but has no housing, and very little in the way of retail, restaurants or other amenities despite its vast workforce.

Back in the 1960s, the U acknowledged to Interior officials that a research park was a novel land use under an RPPA grant, but they still received a green light to proceed with development. Randall referenced a Dec. 10, 1970, letter from then-Interior Secretary Fred Russell, expressly confirming the research park as “a valid public purpose.”

“In good faith and reliance on the Department of the Interior assurances, the university has invested significant institutional resources in the development of a research park to ensure that it fulfills its mandate for public benefit,” Randall said. Over the years, Research Park has become a successful innovation hub for Utah, emerging as a home to dozens of companies, particularly in biotech, and many university departments, with a combined workforce totaling more than 14,000.

Those companies include BioFire Diagnostics, which was recently acquired by multi-national biotech company bioMérieux, and ARUP Laboratories, a leading national academic reference laboratory offering high-quality diagnostic testing and consulting services to hospitals and health systems across the nation. The park was a launching pad for Myriad Genetics, a leading genetic testing company that played a key role in the discovery and sequencing of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 breast cancer genes.

To continue the park’s success, it is essential for the U to add housing and transit infrastructure, according to Randall.

“If the university is now prohibited from improving research park in ways that ensure its continued success, as has recently been suggested by the BLM, progress made to date will be undone and significant public and private investments in the park will be wasted,” the president told lawmakers. “This question of use was resolved long ago, as demonstrated by the written materials that the university has submitted to this committee. Nonetheless, in order to put this issue to rest and to provide guidance to both the university and the BLM, the university respectfully requests that this committee vote in favor of the University of Utah Research Park Act.”

• Chris Nelson Chief University of Utah Relations Officer
  801-953-3843 christopher.nelson@utah.edu