An Amazon contractor has seemingly begun work on the site where the online retailer wants to place its Eugene distribution center despite a pending appeal of the company’s wetland permit.

Work trucks were visible from Oregon Route 99 on July 24; operators were seen raking and watering the property.

The Oregon Department of State Lands received a complaint of work being performed on the site two days prior, spokesperson Katrina Scotto di Carlo confirmed.

“We’re currently looking into the legal interpretation of the regulations to determine next steps,” she said.

Three Eugene women, including an environmental consultant, in May appealed the permit that would give Amazon permission to pave over wetlands. They argue the state government erred when it tentatively granted approval.

On May 1, the Department of State Lands, which has jurisdiction over wetlands in Oregon, gave Amazon contractor TC Pursuit Services — a subsidiary of Trammell Crow, which began work on the site — a notice that it intended to award a “Removal-Fill Permit” for the site where the warehouse is planned.

That notice was one of the factors the city of Eugene considered when it last month gave Amazon permits to build.

Trammell Crow has declined to comment on the Amazon project, citing a nondisclosure agreement.

Liz Porter, a Eugene resident, environmental consultant and former stormwater regulator, is the lead complainant in the formal appeal of DSL’s decision. She alleged the agency did not properly vet Trammell Crow’s findings, and that Trammell Crow and Amazon didn’t meet their obligations under the permit requirements.

DSL has jurisdiction over “waters of the state,” including rivers, lakes, wetlands and more. To award a permit that allows Amazon to reduce those waters — including paving over the wetland — state officials consider nine factors, including whether there’s a public need for the development, whether the companies considered alternatives to the project, and whether they “provided all practicable mitigation” from construction and development.

State officials determined the project met the “public need” test as part of Eugene’s vision for light-industrial jobs in the Clear Lake area; that Amazon met its obligations to consider alternatives by looking at seven alternate sites and four alternate layouts and determining those options were either impractical or disturbed more wetlands; and that Amazon met its obligation to mitigate by buying wetland credits.

Porter, in her appeal, wrote Amazon fails the “public need” test because the company has not provided a concrete number of jobs it will provide, their pay, or U.S. Postal Service job losses. She also contended that the company hasn’t sufficiently studied the alternate sites and that Amazon hasn’t considered the impact it will have outside the property.

“It’s not in the public interest of the people of Oregon to cut out a third-party contractor from Amazon and make Amazon more profitable so they can run their own fleet,” Porter told the Register-Guard.

Porter described herself as more pro-wetland than “anti-Bezos,” and said she would have similar concerns if another business wanted to put this much pavement on the lot where Amazon plans to locate.

“The whole premise of the law is: Don’t touch what you don’t have to,” she said. “If a client came to me and said, ‘I want to build an 80-acre complex’ and mapped on that land was a huge amount of wetlands, I’d say, ‘You need to seam it together with some other parcels before you start building there or go back to square one and find a new piece of land.’”

Porter speculated that the distribution center’s estimated average of 2,600 daily trips will have a negative environmental impact on the Willamette River and harm the “public health and safety” of Eugene residents, by clogging the Beltline Highway route to PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center in Springfield.

While Porter lodged her formal complaint with the state, she also was frustrated with the city of Eugene for designating the Clear Lake area for industrial development in the first place. In her view, the wetland-heavy area isn’t suited for such development.

In 2017, Eugene expanded its urban growth boundary around the airport by 969 acres. City officials concluded Eugene did not have enough economic opportunity and the solution was to add 11 large industrial parcels. Nine years later, Amazon was the first company to latch onto one of those parcels.

Amazon’s permits, as well as the city’s justification for choosing the area in the first place, have labeled the wetlands around the airport “low quality” because of the lack of wildlife both on the wetlands and in Amazon Creek.

But Porter said the value of a wetland is more than that.

The land where Amazon plans to build plays an important role in catching stormwater from upstream industrial businesses that could otherwise reach the Long Tom River, which does have fish. The wetland mitigation credits Amazon bought don’t change that, she said.

The appeals went to the Oregon Office of Administrative Hearings, which provides judges who hear appeals of administrative decisions made by state agencies. The OAH hosted an “administrative pre-hearing” over the issue on July 20.

Erika Hamilton, the attorney representing the state, argued for a smaller scope, saying many of the issues complainants raised aren’t legal requirements. For example, complainants took issue with DSL not responding to the comments given against the permit in the public comment period and Hamilton said DSL isn’t required to respond to those comments.

Porter argued for a broader scope even beyond the issues raised in the current complaints. She said those complaints are incomplete because DSL has not provided her with a complete administrative record of its decision. She filed a public records request for that information in May, but DSL told her it would cost $2,335.

“The whole process was scattered and covert and didn’t give the opportunity of the public to know really what was going on,” Porter told the judge. “The way that the application went through was so piecemeal and scattered that we weren’t able to really get an idea, in an all-encompassing way, of what exactly is going on, where it’s going, and how it’s going to affect long term, this community.”

Hamilton said DSL originally treated Porter’s request as a public records request, but because of the appeal it’s now treating it as a discovery request and will provide Porter with the documents.

Administrative Law Judge Kate Triana said she would present both sides with a draft “issue list” to be discussed at the next pre-hearing on Aug. 7.

During the pre-hearing Hamilton also clarified that because appeals were filed within 15 days of the May 1 notice, DSL has not yet issued a permit. She and the Trammell Crow representative seemed to disagree whether the company currently has permission to remove the wetlands on the property.

“There isn’t a final agency action,” Hamilton said. “DSL intends to proceed to a hearing and hear all the evidence. … And following the development of the administrative record, the agency will make a permitting decision.”

“We do have a proposed order that says the permit application is approved,” said Stoel Rives attorney Reilley Keating, who is representing Trammell Crow. “That has not been challenged by TC Pursuit Services, the applicant itself. And so, there is a permit.”

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in The Register-Guard and then was distributed on the USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect.

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Ball Corporation, Timberlab, ATI and Gordon Truck Centers are pouring a combined $500 million, at least, to build manufacturing plants and other facilities in Millersburg.

That’s the kind of economic development any city would love. Large employers bring jobs and an expanded tax base, among other benefits.

In a city of 3,000-plus like Millersburg, slightly north of Albany, those numbers make a major impact.

While some governments get “caught up in red tape and rule books” that make development difficult, Linn County Commissioner Roger Nyquist said, Millersburg city leaders welcome businesses.

“How can we get to yes for you on this?” Nyquist said.

Millersburg’s low taxes, large tracts of developable land and easy access to Interstate 5 and rail service have made it popular for businesses. Few cities along Oregon’s predominant north-south freeway have experienced Millersburg’s level of industrial growth.

“What the difference is that attitude is from our council,” former City Manager Kevin Kreitman said. “I will tell you that historically Millersburg has always had a council that understands the value of the industrial base and protecting that industrial base and growing that base for the benefit of the community.”

Impetus for incorporation

The town was established as Millers Station in 1871, when a rail station was built for the Southern Pacific Railroad. It became a large shipping point for cattle in the 1880s and renamed Millersburg around 1900.

The U.S. Bureau of Mines established a facility to produce zirconium there in the 1940s. That plant was later sold to Wah Chang for production of metals including hafnium, tantalum and niobium. In the 1980s, it became a Superfund site; the environmental cleanup took 20 years.

In 1952, the Willamette Kraft Corporation built a paper mill to process wood chips into kraft paper. When it was owned by Weyerhaeuser, the plant was known for a smell reminiscent of rotting cabbage that greeted people driving by it on I-5.

“That was the smell of money, man,” Nyquist said.

Millersburg incorporated as a city in 1974, partially so businesses and residents could avoid being annexed into Albany and pay that city’s higher property taxes.

About a third of the city’s land was designated for residential development, which left lots of room for commercial growth.

A substantial hole to fill

The paper mill closed for good in 2009 and cost 270 workers their jobs. Three years later, the mill’s owner, then International Paper, tore it down.

At the time of its closure, the mill’s property tax bill was about $2.6 million annually — the most in Linn County.

“We lost a lot of jobs,” Millersburg Mayor Scott Cowan said. “And so that was a big impact, and then of course as that sort of was the immediate situation once that news got out was of course the financial impact to the city was by the franchise fees and taxes from the IP property. We felt that.”

The loss of that revenue was significant to the taxing districts — officials had to find ways to replace the revenue to pay for city services and road repairs, for example.

Millersburg didn’t levy property tax for its first 40 years because the city earned enough money from franchise fees to pay for basic city services. Now the city charges the maximum $3.50 per $1,000 of assessed value. Most of that goes to contracted fire and sheriff’s services.

The city tried to attract businesses to fill the gap left by International Paper.

In 2008, Peak Sun Silicon broke ground on a 10,000-square-foot building where it would employ 500 people to produce an ingredient in solar cells. The state foreclosed on the property when Peak Sun defaulted on a $14 million loan in 2012.

In 2019, the state gave Linn County $25 million to build an intermodal facility on a portion of the former International Paper property. That project cost $35 million, but operations never began.

Renewed interest in development

When Timberlab was looking to build a new facility to manufacture mass timber, the company considered multiple Willamette Valley locations, including Independence and Corvallis, President Chris Evans said.

Then Timberlab found a 33.5-acre site in Millersburg. The location had challenges. It had a fish bearing stream, needed an entry road and the main connecting road to Old Salem Highway was under construction.

Nevertheless, Timberlab purchased the land from the city and expects to complete its first building this year. That project will bring an estimated 100 jobs to Millersburg.

Gov. Tina Kotek, present when ground was broken in March 2025, said Oregon is “leading the way” in mass timber and pointed to the new roof at the Portland International Airport terminal.

“The city really facilitated taking a lot of the issues out of the sites here, so they could invite somebody into the community and have a quicker turnaround to have something rezoned from agricultural to industrial,” Evans said at the ground-breaking event.

That will include a 185,000-square-foot manufacturing facility. Timberlab has plans for 85,000-square-foot and 126,000-square-foot buildings in the future.

Companies that build in Millersburg reap the same tax rewards as its citizens.

Property owners in Millersburg pay a combined tax rate of 15.61 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, one of the lowest rates in the state for a city that offers the services that Millersburg does.

A company building a $100 million facility can save over $1 million per year on property taxes compared to other cities if it builds in Millersburg.

The money brought in from taxes and fees also means residents don’t have to worry about being barraged with bonds and levies from the city.

“But don’t worry,” city manager Janelle Booth said. “Our residents still complain about our taxes.”

Companies like Timberlab also get a tax break by building in enterprise zones — areas designated for large-scale industrial development by the state.

Enterprise zone projects must meet requirements including a minimum investment cost and employee count. Also, workers must be paid between 130 and 150 percent of the county’s average wage.

Businesses are exempt from paying property taxes on capital improvements for three to five years. In a rural enterprise zone, such as the one in Millersburg, businesses could be exempt from paying taxes on those improvements for up to 15 years.

In the meantime, the city will still benefit from the Timberlab development as it collects franchise fees from the company. Millersburg received nearly $1.2 million per year from Pacific Power last year, and that will go up with more power being used by Timberlab and Ball Corporation.

That money pays for basic city services like roads, parks and city administration.

“We’re looking at it for that long-term benefit, too,” Booth said.

The value of incentives

Millersburg has invested heavily in infrastructure that benefits residents and businesses. The city shares water filtration and wastewater treatment facilities with Albany.

Pacific Power owns and runs a regional operations center in the southern part of the city.

Millersburg city leaders convinced Pacific Power to build a new substation on Conser Road across the street from the Jefferson Fire Department station in 2024. That provides large industrial users with plenty of electricity for whatever they plan to build.

Several large parcels inside the city limits were zoned industrial and never developed. Over the years, Millersburg acquired several of those parcels for free or close to it.

To spur economic development, the city took an active approach in marketing the industrial properties.

The city updated its comprehensive plan in 2020, which essentially served as a sales brochure for prospective development.

“That’s an incentive that we can have with the industries to encourage them to come in,” Kreitman said. “We went through and we put together a presentation, and the state asked us to come and talk about it for other communities to look at. It’s really helped us.”

The city council opted to be selective in which companies it would sell properties to. For example, the city chose not to sell land for warehouses that employ few people.

“As the property owner, the price of the property is one of our tools to get what we want in here,” Booth said.

The city still owns about 70 acres of flat, undeveloped land that is zoned for industrial use.

Dormant site could be awakened

Cowan said Ball Corporation’s plans to build a plant helped spur much of the new economic development in the city.

“We heard about another company that was interested, but it was a lot of this loose interest and no one really serious until Ball came along,” Cowan said. “That really was a big one.”

Ball Corporation’s facility could be larger than 500,000 square feet when it’s finished, according to city planning documents, but will be smaller to start, Kreitman said.

It is unclear how many jobs the Ball facility will provide once it’s finished. The company did not respond to requests for comments.

Center Market is planning a new 5,200-square-foot building for its store and offices. Pure Energy is adding a 7,480-square-foot building.

Several businesses have announced plans for the former International Paper property.

Aymium, formerly known as National Carbon Technologies, in 2022 signed a 16-year lease for construction of a plant that uses carbon products to produce things like filters. Linn County approved a pause in that lease in 2025.

“And if they don’t go forward, we’ve got, guess what, flat land available at a reasonable price in close proximity to I-5 and rail,” Nyquist said.

In 2024, Omni Energy agreed to lease the site to transfer biodiesel from trains to trucks. That still hasn’t happened.

“It’s going to take some infrastructure investment,” Nyquist said. “The operators want to work out a longer-term lease to justify that investment, and so that’s what we’re working on today.”

Corvallis-based Samaritan Health Services owns a 2.3-acre plot in the north part of the city at the intersection of Old Salem Highway and the I-5 interchange. The nonprofit planned to build a regional medical center when it purchased the property for $1 million, according to city documents.

“While we do not have definitive plans for that property at this time, we do consider it a very important asset that can help us meet community health needs as Millersburg and surrounding areas continue to grow,” stated Larissa Balzer, Samaritan Health Services vice president of strategy and planning.

Hoping for a downtown and more

While Millersburg has a lot of industrial development, it lacks commercial businesses. Humpty’s Dump Bar & Grill and Oregon Barbecue Company are among the few commercial properties in town.

The Love’s Travel Stop that opened in 2018 near the North Millersburg exit is the city’s most recent commercial development.

The city owns about 8 acres along Old Salem Highway between the new fire station, which the city built for $5 million in 2023, and Center Market. The site is designated for commercial development.

Unlike many small Oregon cities, Millersburg doesn’t have a downtown.

“We’re hoping to create one,” Booth said.

The city also lacks affordable housing. The only houses for sale in Millersburg are listed for over $500,000. There are no apartments or multifamily housing.

“That is the constant feedback we hear from our community and our council and our planning commission, 10,000-square-foot lots is the hill to die on for our folks,” Booth said.

Significant housing growth occurred in the city until 2023, when construction advanced on the last parcel of developable land within city limits. City leaders say they can’t expand the urban growth boundary to the north or west because of the prime farmland in those areas.

The city is looking to expand east of I-5 at a long-hoped-for new interchange for more commercial and high-density residential growth.

Millersburg also owns land it intends to use for a YMCA building and a school, something the city hasn’t had since the last one closed in 1983.

“Last we knew, they are very interested in getting something in here,” Booth said.

Editor’s note: This article first appeared in The Statesman Journal and then was distributed on the USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect.

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The city of Madras has received approval to bring a 196-acre site inside the urban growth boundary for future industrial use, the Economic Development for Central Oregon (EDCO) announced Wednesday. The OK, granted by the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development, enhances Madras’ potential for economic growth, according to EDCO.

The collaborative effort to gain approval featured officials representing Jefferson County, the city of Madras and EDCO as well as business leaders and community members. Private investors will now be able to purchase and develop 196 acres of industrial property, thus presenting opportunities beyond the current lease-only options on the Madras Municipal Airport property, a press release states.

The site’s strategic location is adjacent to existing industrial areas near the Madras Municipal Airport. There will be easy access to essential infrastructure for development.

The site is poised to suit a variety of future uses, including high-tech and clean-tech manufacturing, advanced manufacturing, and IT infrastructure. The development of this site is anticipated to result in job creation and investment opportunities observed in nearby areas such as Prineville and Redmond, the press release states.

The city of Madras and its partners have begun planning to identify specific industry needs for development within the sites of the Large Lot Industrial Program and vacant industrial land, according to EDCO. The site will be reserved for large-scale industrial development in the long term.

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PROJECT: 138 Logistics Center

LOCATION: 4600 N.E. 138th Ave., Portland

SIZE: 489,700 square feet (Building A: 273,500 square feet; Building B: 216,200 square feet)

START DATE: June 2022

ANTICIPATED COMPLETION DATE: May 2023

COST: undisclosed

OWNERS: Clarion Partners and Phelan Development

DEVELOPER: Phelan Development

OWNER’S REPRESENTATIVE/LISTING BROKER: Macadam Forbes

GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Sierra Construction

ARCHITECT: Calvin J. Coatsworth Architects

ENGINEERS: TM Rippey Consulting Engineers (structural), AAI Engineering (civil), Geotech Solutions (geotechnical)

PROJECT SIGNIFICANCE: At a time when Portland’s industrial land readiness is critically low, and the region’s industrial vacancy rate is below 3.3 percent, Clarion Partners and Phalen Development have teamed up to transform a large, underutilized site into a state-of-the-art development. 138 Logistics Center is rising on Northeast 138th Avenue, between Airport Way and Sandy Boulevard, in an enterprise zone, which offers new business tax incentives. The site is near major transportation arterials and interstates.

The two new distribution warehouses will total 489,700 square feet on 25.56 acres. The buildings are designed to attract and retain large industrial users in logistics, distribution, and manufacturing.

With a 36-foot clear height, 138 Logistics Center can offer cube capacity 10 percent to 25 percent greater than the same footprint with a 32-foot clear height. These will be the only buildings in the Airport Way industrial area with 36-foot clear heights. Each building’s power will be 1,600 amps. Building A will have 48 dock doors, 142 parking spaces and 52 trailer stalls. Building B will have 35 dock doors, 113 parking spaces and 43 trailer stalls.

Despite permitting delays, the project has been ahead of schedule regarding supplies and labor. Approximately 125 workers are being employed. Construction is expected to finish on time, in the second quarter of 2023.

“Building Blocks” spotlights noteworthy projects either under construction or approaching the start of construction. To submit a project for consideration, please visit: djcoregon.com/building-blocks.

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