05/23/1977 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Com 5/11/ 77 File Com 5/11/ 77 File VI. ~yiew of First Quarterly ~eport--Eug~e's Economy, In~~~tria1 Sector-- Report distributed to Council. Ed Whitelaw, Economic Consultants Oregon, reviewed for Council the economic quarterly report. He noted in a general overview that the issues being dealt with in this report were employment and land-use data. They were putting the data in a framework which might be more useful for those who have to deal with employment and land-use economics, i.e., City Council, Planning Department, or the local public sector. The industrial sector was analyzed and an attempt was made to describe the current economic conditions and what to expect them to be through 1995. The descrip- tion was from the perspective of an individual whose influence over the economy was limited to areas such as zoning codes, property taxes, . annexation, etc. It included where the industrial land was now lo- cated and would be expected to locate over the next several years. Mr. Whitelaw stated that an oversupply of land zoned industrial exists in Eugene, but it is a superficial oversupply. He explained that the location of the land and the parcel sizes minimizes the utility of its usage by any new industry coming to Eugene. In reference to a report describing the employment situation in Eugene, he said the description of different possible outcomes of employment in the lumber and wood products industry is pro- posed in this report if production decreases. He said the problem with that being applied to the Eugene area is that reduction in employment did not take into account the faet of technology being used in those industries. He noted Western Oregon may be hit hard by a reduction in the lumber and wood products industries, but that Eugene might be hit in a different way because it has unique possi- bilities. He said Eugene's economy is different in regard to other economies because of the balance located here. He noted the unusual characteristics included: 1) a fairly high concentration of employ- ment in the lumber and wood products industries; 2) a disproportion- ate concentration in education; and 3) a sufficient isolation from the Portland area in its role of being a large regional growth center and economic sphere of influence. He said the next report would combine the commercial sector with the industrial sector and address the issues of those combined. He said the study group was trying to perform a forecasting of employment in the area. Mr. Hamel congratulated Mr. Whitelaw on the expertise of the explanation for the economic industrial growth study for Eugene and agreed that Eugene seemed to be a very fine hub to the whole southwestern portion of ,the state of Oregon. VII. Review of Annexation Criteria--Memo distributed to Council (state- ment on fi1~- in Manager''",;" illlce and Planning Deportment nt City Hall). Jim Saul, Planning Department, reviewed the criteria statement. He noted it was not a new set of criteria, but baaed on the policies of the Gen~rnl Plan and more specifically detailed in the 1990 Plan. 5/23/77--1 0 -405 e e .