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By Nancy Perkins
Deseret Morning News

ST. GEORGE — A handful of state legislators toured southern Utah, visiting several potential building sites for projects that will accommodate the region's growing school system, tourism and justice system.
"Going on tour and coming down here to see the growth is a lot different than just hearing about it," said David Clark, R-Santa Clara, who joined members of the capital facilities and administrative services subcommittee for the tour on Monday. "Kicking the dirt and seeing the growth yourself is a very important part of understanding it."
Half a dozen state lawmakers joined members of the State Building Board for the statewide capital facilities tour that began and ended in Salt Lake City, Clark said. Tour members visited potential project sites in St. George, Cedar City and Richfield. The team also looked at a proposed site for a joint driver license/Division of Motor Vehicle building in Utah County.
Topping the list of capital facility projects in Washington County was the building that currently houses the Fifth District Court in St. George. Judges now hear cases in cramped quarters in a building next to the St. George administrative center.
Officials with the city, Washington County School District and the state are working on a three-way real-estate deal that would give each entity room to expand. About $1.5 million in state funds has already been allocated for the design work on a new courthouse building that could cost as much as $28 million to construct, according to documents on the legislative fiscal analyst's Web site.
Also on the tour was a multiusee learning center on the Dixie State College campus, and a 20-acre parcel in Hurricane that the college would like to purchase for the Dixie Applied Technology Center.
The nearly 34,000-square foot learning center will be designed to adapt to the college's changing needs, said Chris Taylor, Dixie State College spokesman.
Another stop on the tour was a possible location for a new St. George Welcome Center along I-15. The present welcome center sits on 28 acres of prime commercial property that St. George officials want to sell. The resulting funds would help pay for the city's share of another future project, the Southern Corridor, which would skirt the St. George replacement airport on the southeast side of town.
A legislative capital facilities committee will review the long list of state-funded capital project requests before submitting its recommendations to the 2007 Legislature, Clark said.


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