Farmland 'Blight' to Make Way for Industrial Uses Near Portland

"Hillsboro officials want to classify nearly 1,000 acres of mostly undeveloped farmland and green fields on the city's north side as 'blighted'," reports Luke Hammill. "That would allow the city to designate the area as an urban renewal district, a tool Hillsboro's economic development team hopes to use to jumpstart large-scale industrial investment north of Evergreen Parkway and west of Brookwood Parkway."

Local officials, such as Hillsboro Economic Development Director Mark Clemon, argue that the development of the area with industrial uses is one of the best opportunities to improve the global standing of the Portland region's economy. A recent study (by consultants Johnson Economics and Communitas) into the feasibility of the "North Hillsboro Industrial Area," as it's called, reached a similar conclusion.

The catch, in addition to the loss of the agricultural land, is that the development would require infrastructure investments that would be funded by the urban renewal district. Such a district, reports Hammill, "could help finance $207 million worth of transportation, water and sewer improvements and lure as many as 17,000 jobs and $2 billion in annual payroll…"

With the funding and infrastructure enabled by the urban renewal district (also described in more detail by Hammill), the study targets "multiple large-acre high-tech users, one very large high-tech water and sewer user, and multiple smaller users in business park developments." The report also believes it has identified the factors necessary to identify the area in question as blight under state law.