09. Westside Economic Alliance (Industrial Land Readiness Workgroup)

MEMORANDUM Industrial Land Readiness Workgroup at Westside Economic Alliance Date: February 11, 2026 WEA is pleased to bring you a summary memo resulting from months of workgroup discussion and collaboration with Metro staff. This memo is intended to be a starting point for a collaborative conversation where private sector partners can work with Metro to support a bright economic future for our region. BACKGROUND Metro is required to produce an updated Urban Growth Report (UGR) every six years as part of the growth management program. The UGR is used as the basis for urban growth boundary (UGB) expansion decisions. Throughout the 2024 UGR review process, participants raised concerns through various committees and Metro Council meetings about Metro’s buildable lands methodology specific to counting industrial lands. Metro’s current methodology is not intended to specifically identify market-based industrial land needs for the region. The Buildable Land Inventory requires Metro to identify available lands that are currently zoned for industrial use but is not required to consider key site criteria factors based on market realities such as slope, utility infrastructure availability, and proximity to major highways. While the UGR found that sufficient industrial lands for the next 20 years “exist” in the UGB, much of the land identified is not suitable to meet industrial development market demand due to site size, slope and other site constraints. The most recent UGR was adopted in 2024 and used as the basis for the Sherwood West UGB expansion. In order to approve the City of Sherwood’s UGB expansion request that included industrial lands, Metro staff used a targeted industry approach which showed that despite the substantial amount of industrial zoned land inside the UGB, this expansion was justified as none of those sites could meet the site needs of certain sectors. In response to the UGR process and the concerns raised, members of MTAC asked MPAC and Metro Council to convene an Industrial Land Readiness Workgroup of industry experts to look more closely at Metro’s buildable lands methodology. This memo is the result of that convening, providing background on the workgroup’s discussions, goals and membership, along with recommended actions for Metro Council to consider. WORKGROUP CONVENING The Industrial Land Readiness Workgroup convened from February to September 2025. The workgroup’s initial objective was to review the methodology used by Metro to count buildable employment industrial lands and present specific recommendations to better align the count of 1 Industrial Land Readiness Workshop | Memorandum of Recommendations | February 11, 2026 www.WestsideAlliance.org

buildable industrial land with market realities. However, upon convening, it quickly became apparent that the issues faced by the region are bigger than methodology alone and that actions should go beyond technical fixes to include more substantive changes. The workgroup was comprised of commercial real estate brokers and developers, private sector planners, economists, and public sector partners including city, county, regional and state partners. Metro staff both participated in, and served as advisors throughout, the process. We hope this work can result in a model of what can happen when we bring together experts from across our region to a single table using a solution-oriented approach to tackle big problems. Two goals emerged from this workgroup:

To help Metro create a forecast process with growth scenarios that consider economic development interventions and market demand to create more aspirational forecasts, while still meeting State requirements.
To encourage Metro Council to center economic development through creation of an economic development focused “table” composed of technical staff and industry experts to strategize on technical fixes to ensure that industrial land availability can meet market demands in a timely manner. Over the course of the convening, the workgroup committed to educating ourselves about Oregon’s Statewide Land Use Planning Goal 9: Economic Development, forecasting and market analysis, and land readiness and investment needs for our region and state. It is within the context of this shared learning and the individual expertise offered by workgroup participants that we feel we can help Metro identify solutions that will unlock the potential of our region to grow a diverse and vibrant economy. The WEA team produced a draft memo of recommendations and presented it to Metro Councilors and staff. During this series of meetings, WEA learned that Metro Council has formed an economic development working group, which includes Councilors Gonzales, Lewis and Simpson. WEA also learned that Metro staff is developing a proposal for Council consideration which includes actions that can be taken to support and enhance economic development in our region. “Job Ready Lands” will be one of their top priorities in this work. As a result of collaboration with Metro staff and Council this memo has been updated. All of the original draft recommendations are retained but have been updated and reformatted to align and help shape the upcoming work of the Council on economic development. During this time, we also learned of the Governor’s Roadmap to Prosperity effort including the creation of an Oregon Prosperity Council. This new effort will create an elevated opportunity for this work to be integrated into future legislative action. We are determined to help find a path forward for the region to develop a 20-year and beyond employment land supply and economic forecasting system that reflects market realities, supports economic growth, and bridges public and private sector perspectives concerning ongoing economic uncertainty. We believe our region must prioritize building a future-focused economy. In addition to forecasting updates and other measures, the public and private sectors must work together in a meaningful way. 2 Industrial Land Readiness Workshop | Memorandum of Recommendations | February 11, 2026 www.WestsideAlliance.org

WEA will continue to be clear that experts from the private sector are critical to the success of these efforts. We’ve identified the problems and provided reasonable solutions. This work needs to move in real-time and not be slowed down by years of work where the process becomes the outcome. We stand ready to work alongside Metro to help our region realize Jobs Ready Land that will benefit our workforce, our economy and our communities. RECOMMENDATIONS TO METRO: Recommendation #1: Metro Council should adopt a resolution that acknowledges a clear problem statement similar to below. • Our existing Urban Growth Report does not tell the full story of the region’s long-term land supply. Much of the industrially zoned land is inadequate or undevelopable and does not meet the needs nor the criteria of the market demand. Metro should acknowledge this issue and partner with us to develop a strategy to evolve our regional approach to more accurately reflect our “buildable” land supply and take action to ensure that we do have adequate and appropriate buildable industrial land available to support a bright economic future for our region. Recommendation #2: Metro Council should provide additional direct support for jurisdictions. • Allocation of funding through the 2040 Planning and Development Grants for cities to bring on full FTE or hire consultants to support planning efforts including, but not limited to, analysis of and changes to zoning, comprehensive planning, and other planning needs related to growth for the duration of their economic analysis project. This should happen by the end of 2026. • Help jurisdictions utilize site-specific, mid-cycle industrial land UGB expansions as appropriate. No city has utilized this process since it became available in 2010. While it is encouraging that such a process exists, its under-utilization points to it either being inaccessible or not cost- effective for cities to pursue. • If necessary, an outside consultant should be brought in with Metro resources to work with local jurisdictions on identifying what support they need to be successful in their future planning processes. Recommendation #3: Metro Council should consider changes to Title 11 to support efficiency and better use of public funds. We understand that this work is connected to other elements of the UGB expansion process. In order to better streamline processes to support efficiency and use of public funds, some initial suggestions include: • Acknowledge that the concept plan phase is required to include a robust visioning/public process, including preliminary infrastructure funding plan, preliminary transportation and utility plans, and preliminary zoning plans. 3 Industrial Land Readiness Workshop | Memorandum of Recommendations | February 11, 2026 www.WestsideAlliance.org

• Because the concept plan phase includes all the required elements, amend Title 11 to require that the comprehensive plan phase be focused only on implementing the approved concept plan. • Metro could use money saved from a slimmed down comprehensive plan phase to seed an infrastructure fund (revolving loan fund) or affordable housing fund for new urban areas. Recommendation #4: Metro Council should pursue the following recommended technical fixes to refine the counting of employment land. To be completed by the end of Q4 2026. • Develop and adopt a Grading/Tiering System that considers, including, but not limited to, Lot size, Geometry, Slope, Natural Features, Access to Infrastructure, Contiguity with other developable parcels. • Seek changes to state law to encourage ‘surplus’ land supply, including the surplus of certain TYPES of land as identified by market analysis and input from industry. • This should be completed in time for policy movement in the 2027 Legislative Session. Recommendation #5: Metro Council should adopt a forward-looking, market-guided methodology when modeling growth. • Future UGR economic modeling should work to predict future economic performance including results from planned economic development interventions and growth opportunities. Following DLCD’s Goal 9 recommendation that aspirational forecasting guides the work done to prepare the Urban Growth Report. • When launching the Urban Growth Report process, Metro should adopt an aspirational directive when forecasting their available land supply. Recommendation #6: Metro Council should create and staff an “implementers table” that focuses on regional economic development, specifically land availability and readiness. To be created by the end of Q1 2026. • We recommend a new table, to be staffed by Metro, that centers the voices of business and industry with a focus on economic development, specifically land availability and readiness. ▪ This table should include industry experts and technical staff and serve as an advisory group to MTAC, MPAC and Metro Council. ▪ This table can provide insight into best practices and review best practices from other states where cities have the opportunity and resources needed to grow. ▪ This table can help identify where there are gaps in staffing, revenue, and policy. ▪ This table can collaborate to support bimonthly/quarterly technical work sessions around commercial real estate development topics for MPAC, MTAC, and Metro Council with private sector subject matter experts to educate on the importance and benefits and development hurdles and quality of land supply in UGB. ▪ This table can identify changes to the state land use system that would support the outcomes described in this memo. 4 Industrial Land Readiness Workshop | Memorandum of Recommendations | February 11, 2026 www.WestsideAlliance.org

▪ This Table can be charged with identifying legislative and incentive gaps, workforce development needs, and regional synergies. ▪ This table can provide feedback and input into the Governor’s Oregon Prosperity Council & CEDS effort. ▪ THE REPORT: Within one year, and then on an agreed upon periodic basis, this table should work with Metro staff to create a report that will outline economic realities and opportunities throughout the three counties. ▪ We recommend that the first report be framed as a Regional Jobs Strategy to support future ongoing work. This strategy should be developed and adopted by the end of Q4 2026. ▪ This report should be presented to MTAC, MPAC and Metro Council and should be included as an addendum to the Urban Growth Report. ▪ The report must discuss whether the current land supply meets market demands, identify if/where there is a mismatch and make recommendations to address the mismatch. ▪ This report should also identify target industries, characteristics of land they require, identify locations where that land exists, and detail the improvements required to make that land development ready. ▪ The report should identify technical fixes to existing Metro rules, plans or procedures for Metro Council consideration. ▪ As an example, this report might echo the work done by the City of Hillsboro to provide economic projections and forecasts; it might provide lessons learned and highlight market successes and challenges; it would also be an opportunity to identify infrastructure and investment needs throughout the region. 5 Industrial Land Readiness Workshop | Memorandum of Recommendations | February 11, 2026 www.WestsideAlliance.org

Industrial Land Readiness Workgroup Members NAME ORGANIZATION SECTOR Elizabeth Mazzara Myers Westside Economic Alliance Convenor Teddy Russell Westside Economic Alliance Staff Kenneth Anderton Port of Portland Public Sector Dan Dias Hillsboro Public Sector Laura Edmonds Clackamas County Public Sector Steve Koper City of Tualatin Public Sector Steve Perkins Clackamas County Public Sector Jamie Stasny Clackamas County Public Sector Todd Duwe Perlo Private Sector Steve Faust 3J Consulting Private Sector Gabriela Frask Mackenzie Private Sector Jerry Johnson Johnson Economics Private Sector Keith Leavitt Confluence Strategies Private Sector Stu Peterson Macadam Forbes Private Sector Ivy Quach QB Fabrication & Welding Private Sector Kelly Ross NAIOP/CAB Private Sector Steve Sieber Trammell Crow Private Sector Brad Smith Windsor Properties Private Sector Advisors Eryn Kehe Metro Public Sector Ted Reid Metro Public Sector David Tetrick Metro Public Sector Presenters Leigh McIlvaine DLCD Public Sector Gordon Howard DLCD Public Sector NOTE: Metro staff attended the workshop and provided information and input but did not participate in the final drafting of the recommendations or memo. DLCD staff were invited as guest presenters and did not take part in the development of the recommendations or memo. 6 Industrial Land Readiness Workshop | Memorandum of Recommendations | February 11, 2026 www.WestsideAlliance.org

Parent: Appendix E: Submissions & Feedback · PDF: pp. 159-164