September GAC Meeting

Catalyst

Government Affairs Committee

NEXT MEETING - Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Noon – 1:00 PM at Visitor Center

GAC members will have an opportunity to hear from Mark Clemons of Group Mackenzie, a northwest planning and engineering company, commissioned by the Oregon Business Development Department (The Oregonian, Aug. 9, 2009), to develop an economic model for predicting the economic value of new employment lands. Mark will explain how the model works and the result of work for the Wilsonville area.

Mr. Clemons presented to the Clackamas County Economic Development Commission at its meeting on July 22, 2009 a prototype study done for land in Washington County. The model analyzed the value of land bordering U.S. 26 west of the City of Hillsboro that the city wants earmarked industrial. As some of you are aware, I am a member of the Clackamas County Economic Development Commission. The Commission receives an update on the Urban and Rural Reserves process at nearly every meeting since I started serving on the Commission. County Commissioners Jim Bernard and Charlotte Lehan graciously gave up their time on the Commission’s Agenda for this presentation. I probably would be unaware of Group Mackenzie and its study had I not been a Commission member.

Group Mackenzie’s analysis quantified the economic output of existing employment lands and then used this data to project the economic output of an area immediately adjacent to the City of Hillsboro being considered for urban reserve designation. The economic output is measured in terms of payroll taxes, property taxes and market value. This model evaluates the financial productivity of employment lands and the importance of clustering employment lands to enhance economic outputs.

The Clackamas County Business Alliance (CCBA) has contracted with Group Mackenzie to apply the economic model to areas in Clackamas County. Data from existing industrial/employment areas will be applied to potential urban reserve areas to better gain an understanding of the possible economic impacts of clustering employment lands GAC’s invitation to Group Mackenzie to speak at its September meeting is in response to the Chamber’s Vision – Create and promotes economic vitality for business in the south metro area – and Mission – Business is the priority. These directions motivate Chamber leadership to provide members with as much information as available regarding any proposal with a potential for impacting a member’s economic future, in this case the reserves process. Furthermore, GAC members have consistently requested input from all sides regarding an issue before the Committee is asked to recommend to the Board of Directors whether the Chamber should take a position on an issue and the position to be taken.