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Lloyd Transportation Management Association Executive Director Rick Williams last week got a call from a company that wanted to install food digesters in the . Williams has in fact fielded more than a dozen similar calls from companies seeking to 鈥減lug in鈥� to the pilot project.

He tells them all the same thing: 鈥淲e don’t have the district yet.鈥�

The Lloyd District is one of five designated eco-district pilots identified by the . The city of Portland in 2009 charged PoSI with creating an eco-district strategy. It has since drawn coverage and and was cited as a model for projects in Beaverton and Columbia, Mo. But no district exists 鈥� yet.

鈥淲e might be over our skis a little bit in what we’ve said,鈥� Williams said.

But progress could be forthcoming. A resource council, which consists of Lloyd TMA business interests and other stakeholders, plans to name a sustainability director within the next two months. This will be the first staff position dedicated to the Lloyd eco-district.

鈥淭his is a major milestone for us,鈥� said Naomi Cole, PoSI program manager. 鈥淲e feel pretty strongly and practically that having professional staff in the neighborhood driving projects is what it’s going to take鈥� (to establish a working eco-district).

An association of businesses in the Lloyd business improvement district will cover the cost of the sustainability director. Funding for the eco-district is $300,000 per year for three years, and includes the private funding for the staff position as well as cash and in-kind contributions of staff time from the city, Metro and PoSI.

PoSI and the Lloyd TMA have managed the eco-district project for the last 18 months. The TMA was formed in 1994 and is credited with bringing light rail 鈥� and an extension of the free-rail zone 鈥� into the district. The association is an example of regional management that works and the reason that the Lloyd eco-district is the one that PoSI is tackling first, Cole said.

One of the sustainability director’s first tasks, Williams said, will be to ensure that stakeholders are on the same page.

鈥淚f you were to ask the 13 members of our resource council what an eco-district is, you’d get 13 different answers,鈥� he said. 鈥淎 lot of people think we’re just going to drop a centralized energy plant into the district and call it an eco-district. That’s a misconception. It’s coordinated management of sustainability programs in a district that can include energy, water, food digesting, waste, solar, habitat, transportation and community awareness. It’s too early to say that it’s going to be (only) energy.鈥�

Though there is no clear vision on what the eco-district will look like, stakeholders have ideas about what success will require.

鈥淚n the first 12 to 18 months, there have to be some (project goals) accomplished. A couple of things should be completed at that time,鈥� said Jeff Blosser, executive director of the Oregon Convention Center and a member of the resource council. He mentioned district-scale energy or water systems as examples.

Too much government interference could make the district unsuccessful, Blosser said.

鈥淚t has to be good for business and job growth or we will have failed,鈥� said Hank Ashforth, CEO of Ashforth Pacific, another business heavily involved in the district’s management.

Local businesses stand to gain from lower costs for energy or waste management if systems are put in place, Blosser said. The district also has the potential to attract certain kinds of businesses and patrons that might otherwise go elsewhere. But that will hinge on early action 鈥� excessive stalling in the planning process could cause people to lose interest, he said.

鈥淭here’s a lot of buzz out there,鈥� Williams said. 鈥淲hat’s rewarding about getting a director in is that we can turn the buzz into something real.鈥�