Oregon town lacks industrial land
Published 9:00 pm Sunday, December 24, 2006
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – The lack of large parcels of industrial land in Klamath Falls could keep the local economy from growing, officials say.
The city has 1,532 acres of industrial-zoned land, but very little is usable for major industries seeking to locate to the area, said Klamath Falls city manager Jeff Ball.
“It depends on the nature of the land that is needed by a particular industry,” he said. “In the north end of town, we have pretty good industrial land available in smaller parcels. Scattered throughout the community, we have smaller acres available (one to five acres each).
“What we are finding is that we have a problem when larger guys look at Klamath, they need a big chunk of flat ground. And we are getting thin on that stuff.”
It is becoming a major concern for Klamath Falls and Klamath County officials because large industry is what brings good-paying jobs.
The crux of the issue, Ball said, is while there is plenty of industrially zoned land by Oregon Institute of Technology, it is not flat. Land around the airport is prime industrial land, he said, but developers of a different sort have their eyes on it.
“The future growth of heavy industrial property can get impinged upon by residential development,” Ball said. “We are concerned by the proposed residential development by the airport outside of the Urban Growth Boundary. That property is currently farm land, dissected by three rail lines and power lines. In the long term, that is ideal for industrial development. The city council needs to look as predesignating that as urban reserve.”
Such a move, Ball said, wouldn’t stop residential developers from putting up homes, but it would inform them that in the future, those homes might get a major industrial complex as a neighbor.
Erik Nobel, senior planner for Klamath Falls, said there needs to be a balance in how land is zoned. Some industrial land was rezoned either commercial or residential by various developers. Because of where that land is located, it is not affecting the important industrial land, he said.
“I don’t think it’s prudent to look at the sheer number of zone changes,” Nobel said. “We look at each instance on an individual basis – even if we got to a point where we said we have X number of industrial acres that the community needs.”
