FROM THE POST INDEPENDENT/CITIZEN TELEGRAM: The city of Rifle and Garfield County, along with a group of other stakeholders, hope to build on the recent momentum of landing the Colorado Center of Excellence for Advanced Technology Aerial Firefighting. County commissioners on Monday approved $25,000 to partially fund an economic development strategy for bringing additional business and industry to the Rifle Garfield County Airport and surrounding area. Vandewalle and Associates, a consulting firm previously used in the successful campaign to land the Center of Excellence, will conduct the analysis and act as a technical and strategic advisor. The proposal recommends first working with the Center of Excellence leadership to determine specific focus areas for businesses, with night aerial firefighting operations and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) listed as two examples. A second phase in the proposal calls for the development of a five-year development strategy built around the assets that helped Rifle land the Center of Excellence in the first place, such as large unregulated airspace and nearby higher education institutions, among others.
