Regional Lands Inventory project to identify region’s large job sites and barriers to development
Metro, the Port of Portland, Portland Business Alliance, Business Oregon and the Oregon Chapter of NAIOP are undertaking a comprehensive review of the region’s inventory of large industrial sites and assessing their readiness to support new private-sector jobs.
The Regional Industrial Lands Inventory and Site Readiness Project aims to:
- Identify the inventory of market-ready industrial sites that are 25 acres or larger;
- Identify additional industrial sites of 25 acres or larger that could be available and determine the amount of investment required to make them market-ready;
- Identify the top five to 10 most strategic large industrial sites of 25 acres or larger and the investments and actions necessary to make them ready for development for new private-sector jobs, and
- Support regional economic development efforts and inform future policy and public and private investment decisions in the region.
The work will be divided into two phases.
In the first phase, through this September, the project's partners will create an inventory of potential industrial sites – both within the urban growth boundary and in the region's urban reserves – that are development-ready, as well as sites that need additional work to make them ready for development. These sites include brownfield clean-up sites, and sites in need of additional investment in sewer and water pipes, roads and other essential public structures, zoning adjustments and assembly of lots under multiple ownerships, among other considerations.
The second phase, planned for October and November, will include analysis of five to 10 strategically important industrial sites that will look at the market opportunities for these sites, along with more detailed lists of actions, requirements and costs necessary to overcome the barriers to developing these sites for various types of industrial employers.
While this work is not part of Metro Council’s decision-making process on whether to expand the urban growth boundary, it is expected that this effort will inform decisions by the Metro Council and state and local governments in future years about policies and investments needed to make large sites available for new private-sector jobs. Group Mackenzie, one of the Northwest’s leading urban design firms, has been hired to develop the inventory and complete this work.