Longmont business infrastructure in place for high-tech expansion

The city of Longmont doesn’t just have a great view of the Rocky Mountains – it also has the business infrastructure to support a virtual explosion of companies that continue to choose Longmont as their home.

“Longmont offers a solid backbone for companies that want to do business here,´ said John Cody, president and chief executive of the Longmont Area Economic Council (LAEC). “The city knows how to cater to businesses and residents.”

Set in the center of Colorado’s technology corridor, Longmont has become one of the leading high-tech hubs regionally. Nearly two-thirds of the state’s high-tech industry is located within 30 miles of Longmont, according to the LAEC.

As a result, Longmont has 220 primary employers, including those in the fields of computer science, biotechnology, telecommunications and pharmaceuticals. In the last 15 years, those employers have generated 10,000 primary positions.

Longmont’s ability to sufficiently support this type of growth has come from a city willing to look forward and not merely maintain the status quo.

“Having things like a fiber-optic loop has really helped make Longmont,´ said Jeff Cook, the city’s telecommunications manager.

Built in 1998, the fiber-optic backbone forms a ring that stretches 17 miles around the city. The loop connects all city government facilities and serves the business parks. In April, the city of Longmont signed an agreement with Adesta Communications, a telecommunications company based in Omaha, Neb., to add to the loop, developing a broadband communications infrastructure that will provide digital cable TV services, high-speed Internet access and enhanced data and telephone services to both businesses and residents.

The city has planned for its future in other ways, as well. Longmont dedicated a portion of its sales tax to support infrastructure, using the money for transportation improvements. The city also has some of the most affordable housing in Boulder County, which is the reason Longmont boasts a high concentration of local jobs held by local residents, according to Cody. A Boulder County Labor Migration Study, the economic council’s biannual survey, reported that local residents hold 55 to 60 percent of local jobs.

And local support industries, like plastics molders, sheet metal manufacturers and tool and die shops, provide many of the components necessary to build and maintain facilities for high-tech companies moving to the area. In fact, 40 percent of all wages in Longmont come from the manufacturing industry. “The city really has the ability to provide for its residents, as well as the companies,” Cody said.

Costs to residents and businesses are kept down in many ways. The city, along with three other area communities, formed the Platte River Power Authority in 1966. Through the Authority, the city maintains and operates its own electric system, with some of the best electric rates in the state. Transportation by rail, car, truck or air is easily accessible from Longmont for imports or exports, and the close proximity to I-25 makes getting to Fort Collins or Denver simple for residents.

Longmont also has a generous supply of water resources, according to Sylvia Lewerke, the city’s water resource administrator. Water from the North and South St. Vrain rivers, a reservoir and the Big Thompson Project ensure that the city is never without sufficient water. And for the last 50 years, water rights given to private individuals or entities are transferable to the city when the property is annexed, making the city capable of financially supporting its endeavors.

“Many cities don’t have this type of policy,” Lewerke said. “Thankfully, our water board had the foresight to make a good water policy which we’re still benefiting from years later.”

Amgen Inc., a biotechnology company that manufactures and markets cost-effective human therapeutics based on advances in cellular and molecular biology, chose Longmont to build its manufacturing plant. Amgen found the city’s raw water, affordable housing and closeness to its administrative center in Boulder as attractive incentives to build in Longmont.

“Longmont is the most businesslike and business-friendly city I’ve worked with,´ said Pete McCawley of Amgen.

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