By Kristine Thomas
To compete for businesses looking to expand or to build new facilities, the city councilors of Silverton and Mount Angel realize they have an advantage if they collaborate.
The two cities have agreed to form a Silverton-Mount Angel Enterprise Zone. The Mount Angel City Council voted in October and the Silverton City Council voted in November on a resolution to expand the Silverton Enterprise Zone, created last spring, to include 35 acres in Mount Angel.
The new Silverton-Mount Angel Enterprise Zone is intended to help both cities increase opportunities for economic development.
The idea for Mount Angel to join the Silverton Enterprise Zone started when a business approached Mount Angel City Administrator Eileen Stein. Business representatives told her they were looking for a 35-acre bareland parcel that has access to the railroad. The industrial company’s requirements can’t be met in Silverton.
While Mount Angel could have applied for the creation of its own state-recognized Enterprise Zone, that would have taken more time than to join with Silverton’s existing zone, Stein said.
The joint arrangement was encouraged by SEDCOR (Strategic Economic Development Corporation of Marion and Polk Counties), Stein said.
An Enterprise Zone establishes policies to encourage economic growth and development within the boundaries of the zone. Incentives may include tax concessions, infrastructure attractions and local incentives for a period of three to five years, depending on the local program. Qualifying businesses include manufacturers, processors, shippers, call centers and headquarters-type facilities.
Stein said the state of Oregon tries to encourage cities to work together to create these zones, because that is the fastest way to bring about economic development.
“We appreciate the city of Silverton working with us and we look for more opportunities for collaboration and corporation,” Stein said. “For the community, if this prospective business turns out, that means additional jobs and revenue for both communities.”
Silverton City Manager Bob Willoughby said cities need to think what’s best for the region.
“We are not in a Silverton economy,” Willoughby said. “We are in an economy that includes Mount Angel and Silverton and more communities than just this. That would be too narrow a focus to say there is a Silverton economy.”
The city of Silverton’s staff completed the necessary work for the Silverton Enterprise Zone as a way to provide an incentive to attract industrial users, Willoughby added.
“However, if a user is not interested in Silverton, the city would prefer them to locate in Mount Angel which, due to proximity, benefits Silverton by increasing the amount of jobs, spending and investment in the immediate area,” he said.
Willoughby added it is fairly common to have multi-jurisdictional Enterprise Zones.
“There are over a dozen within the 63 designated zones,” he said, adding the nearest example is the city of Gervais which expanded its zone to include other nearby cities.”
City Councilor Scott Walker said anything good that happens in Mount Angel is good for Silverton.
“The more people in the area that have jobs directly benefits Silverton,” Walker said. “I think we should be working with Mount Angel to help the entire area’s economy.”
