In 1950, Littleton was a sleepy farming town of just 3,374 people.
Then came the announcement that the Glenn L. Martin Company was planning to move a large Titan missile manufacturing plant from Baltimore to South Jefferson County. The move would bring in 5,000 engineers the first year, and a total of 18,000 within five years. As Littleton was the nearest community in those days, engineers and their families began pouring into the city.
The newcomers demanded better housing, better schools, better services. (Existing residents, not necessarily thrilled with the changes forced upon them, labeled the upstart newcomers “Baltimorons.”) By the late 1950s, a major building boom was underway in Littleton, and the former small town was rapidly becoming an urban center.
Now the southwest area faces significant change once again. Recently, the Federal Trade Commission approved a new company – the United Launch Alliance, a $1 billion rocket- launch partnership between Lockheed-Martin and Seattle’s Boeing Co. – that proposes to bring between 1,000 and 1,500 new aerospace engineering jobs to the area.
The average salaries of those jobs will be $75,000 to $90,000, according to economic development experts, adding $1 billion to the economy of the area. In addition, Preston Gibson, president of the Jefferson County Economic Development Council, estimates that “spinoff jobs” for suppliers, vendors and other service providers will add an additional 4,500 jobs. Those jobs will have an average salary of $45,000, he predicts, adding another $2 billion to the economy. He also anticipates “hundreds of millions of dollars” in capital investment by the new partnership.
The United Launch Alliance decided to locate in Colorado instead of Seattle, Gibson believes, for a number of reasons. One is that the legislature approved a $3 million job-incentive program last year. That program will provide up to $4,000 for each new job that pays more than the average wage in the county (currently $45,000). In addition, Jeffco commissioners are expected to approve a rebate of up to 50 percent of the new company’s business personal property tax for as many as 10 years.
Gibson anticipates that large numbers of Boeing’s aerospace engineers will opt to move to Colorado. “When professionals think of moving, they look to see how strong the economy is,” Gibson says, “because their spouse will need a job. They also think, ‘What if this doesn’t work out? Are there other jobs available?”‘ Colorado just passed Florida in aerospace employment, making it No. 3 after California and Texas. With all the aerospace companies in the state, Gibson says, this area should look “very, very attractive” to the Seattle engineers.
If Gibson’s predictions are even close to accurate, we can expect considerable change as a new aerospace company follows in the footsteps of the one that transformed Littleton so long ago. But will a transformation of such magnitude be repeated?
That seems doubtful. For one thing, the expected influx of engineers is far smaller today than the numbers that came in the 1950s and ’60s. In addition, the metro area is far larger now than it was half a century ago, and far better able to absorb the newcomers.
Like the engineers who came before them, it’s likely that the new aerospace workers will want to live close to the Lockheed-Martin plant, where the United Launch Alliance is expected to locate. Developers are already eying vast tracts of vacant land in Douglas County for development.
As planning moves forward, Douglas and Jefferson county commissioners should do all they can to guide new residents to already-developed areas with established roads and services.
If new development becomes necessary, the commissioners have a unique opportunity to ensure that it sets a model for sustainability. They should adopt “green” building codes that minimize energy use, require energy-efficient appliances, encourage the use of solar technologies, and focus on making the most of scarce water resources.
The aerospace engineers who came to the south area 50 years ago left a positive, lasting legacy. Local elected officials should help ensure that the next wave of engineers has a similar legacy – and that they tread lightly on the land.
