Jefferson County: Coming of age in the new millennium.

• Author: Couch, Jan
• Position: Statistical Data Included

In 1955 a group of businessmen met at the Lakewood High School gymnasium to discuss ways to attract the gigantic aerospace company, Martin Marrietta, to build a new facility in the suburbs west of Denver. That meeting would forever change the face of Jefferson County. Martin Marrietta -- now Lockheed Martin -- built its campus in the southwest corner of the county and continues to be the county's largest employer with a workforce of nearly 7,000.

The Jefferson Economic Council (JEC) was born out of that 1955 meeting as well, and today is one of the oldest, largest and most respected economic development organizations in Colorado. Headed by Tom Clark, a former executive with the Denver Metro and Boulder Chambers of Commerce, JEC is the primary vehicle for creating, retaining and attracting primary businesses to the county. Primary businesses are those that sell and distribute products and services outside the local market.

At a time when many business groups are lamenting the economic downturn, the Jefferson Economic Council is knee-high in projects and initiatives designed to make the already attractive county, even more appealing to commerce and industry. Clark particularly promotes the county's accessibility to downtown.

"There's a myth out there that Jeffco is a lot farther from downtown than it is. Most locations in the county are a 20 to 25 minute drive to midtown," Clark says. "With TREX coming online, we are seeing more interest in Jefferson County as companies are making an effort to make it easier for employees to get to work."

Another misconception, he adds, "is that we don't have a lot of developable land. In fact, there will be plenty of land in the next couple of years."

The availability of land is increasing, in part, due to a cooperative effort between JEC and the county government. Two years ago, JEC formed a Land Inventory Committee to study land use and ownership along the C-470 corridor from Hampden (US-285) on the north and Wadsworth on the south. As a result, landowners are working together to combine and rezone sizable parcels for commercial and industrial development in an area that features quick access to major transportation corridors.

Meanwhile, JEC is embarking on a new project to aggressively market land in and around the Jeffco Airport along the county's northern border near Wadsworth Boulevard and 120th Avenue.

"What we discovered during the Boeing process (when Colorado officials and business leaders...