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In Washington County, six miles north of Hillsboro, a small city of 1,900 people is struggling to find a new identity.

City leaders are convinced North Plains can be more than a bedroom community to serve Hillsboro and Portland. They say the city can carve out its own clearing in the silicon forest.

But North Plains’ city manager, Don Otterman, says the community doesn’t even have a strategy to woo new businesses.

Solving that dilemma. according to Otterman, is going to take some time. And some money.

The city has set aside $50,000 to hire a development consultant to determine how the city can attract businesses. The consultant, who will be hired next month, will be tasked with finding a way to market and attract development to the city’s electronic commerce enterprise zone, which was created in 2005.

Income-tax and property-tax abatements were supposed to follow. But in the four years since the zone was designated, no development has taken place, Otterman said. An electronic commerce enterprise zone is used so that businesses can make commercial or retail transactions mainly over the Internet or a computer network.

It’s not the first time North Plains has tried to spur development.

In 1984, North Plains’ leaders at the time conducted their first economic development study, which was intended to pinpoint areas that could be developed. But no activity occurred because the city didn’t have a plan in place to lure businesses.

鈥淲e’re trying really hard to become a more sustainable town,鈥� Otterman said. 鈥淭o do that we need to be a place where people can both live and work.鈥�

He pointed to the west end of town, where 30 acres of developable land sit untouched. The city also has contemplated expanding its urban growth boundary and incorporating more land.

North Plains knows the land exists. The problem, Otterman said, is marketing the land. Leaders don’t know where to start because the city has never been in this position before.

North Plains leaders have now thrust the city’s citizens into a conversation about growth, and many residents welcome development because it would mean improvements to an admittedly antiquated infrastructure system.

Stewart King came to North Plains in 1997 to open up a real estate company called TriStar Properties. He said city the聽 lacks parks, sidewalks and a proper stormwater system. The current system, he said, pumps water through open ditches on the side of the road, where sidewalks belong.

鈥淭he town needs to grow, due to the services the growth will provide,鈥� King said. 鈥淚 think the area could attract high-tech companies, if we did it the right way.鈥�

He said the city also should also pursue service industries.

At North Plains Hardware Inc. on the city’s main drag, clerk Jim Dunlap said in his 20 years as a resident that he’s seen the city grow slightly. Traffic has increased and small subdivisions have been built, he said.

He says North Plains could use more businesses that would help create more local jobs. 鈥淢ost people who live here work someplace else,鈥� Dunlap said.

Dunlap’s family owns the hardware store and used to own a grocery store next door. When new owners bought the grocery store, they turned it into a convenience store. Now the聽 city doesn’t have a full-fledged supermarket. Dunlap thinks a new one would benefit everyone in North Plains.

鈥淲e wouldn’t have to go all the way to Hillsboro then,鈥� he said.

Not all residents, however, like the idea of the city growing. Tabatha Powers has lived in North Plains for years. She believes people don’t live there so they can work there or shop there, but rather so they can enjoy a safe, laid-back quality of life.

Powers’ husband worked at Sun Microsystems in Hillsboro as a material coordinator until he was injured on the job. But she said the commute never bothered him, and the grocery trips to Hillsboro don’t bother her.

If North Plains tries to incorporate more land, she said she will oppose it.

鈥淚 like the town being small; that’s why we moved here,鈥� Powers said. 鈥淚f the town gets bigger, I’ll move to Mountaindale.鈥�

Whether North Plains grows may not be entirely up to the city; growth in the area will also be a factor.

An conducted by Angelo Planning Group and released in May stated that Hillsboro will grow at such a clip that there will be spill-over development in the surrounding areas, including new businesses and housing.

In the next 50 years, according to the report, North Plains could justify incorporating 1,099 additional acres. It’s an idea that appeals to Otterman, but it isn’t the city’s primary concern.

鈥淩ight now,鈥� Otterman said, 鈥渨e’re just looking to put the basics in place.鈥�