Willow Creek Valley Economic Development Group

Minutes March 8, 2006

 

 

Speedway public meeting

 

Steve Brucker of Oregon International Speedway gave a program about the Boardman Speedway and the excise tax proposed for vote May 16, 2006. He said people would only pay the tax whey they came into the activity district which takes in the proposed speedway.

Brucker said the tax district and amount cannot be change without a vote of the people. He said the tax would be used to pay off bonds issued for $100 million for construction of infrastructure at the speedway.

He said benefit to the county would be 100 to 200 family wage jobs created by the speedway. He said there would also be additional construction jobs from the project.

Brucker said OIS would be responsible for all road improvement, although the Port of Morrow may do some of the work. He said OIS would give a letter of credit and service the bonds, and that development will include roads, sewage plant, four tracks, and possible extension of the runway at the Boardman airport.

He expected the speedway construction to be completed by late 2008. He said a major event could attract up to 100,000 spectators, and that there would be a new off ramp constructed to handle the increased traffic.

In explaining the race track he said auto racing is the single biggest spectator sport in America next only to pro football in television revenue.

Bill Gardner an investor of the speedway was also on hand at the meeting, and he said there would be no exposure to the port or the county for bonds. The guarantee for the bonds will be put up by the developer. He also said the speedway property will not be used as security for the bonds.

Garner also said the developer had a 10 year option to purchase property for the speedway from the Port of Morrow. The purchase price for 1400 acres for $7.5 million. Several other parcels could be purchase for $25,000 per acres. Gardner said the speedway could take advantage of the county enterprise zone; however, there have been no talks at this time with the county.

John Edmundson questioned that the character of the county is rural, and that the speedway would change this. He said he thought we were past the point of questioning whether this project is a good thing and that control is slipping away from the people in Morrow County.

Tom Wolff said that he remembers when the coal plant was built in Boardman and people said the same thing. He said the coal plant has had a positive impact on Morrow County.

Gardner said that if the tax is not approved by Morrow County voters the speedway would probably be built at another site. He said there are other incentives being offered at other sites.

It was reported that the zoning for the speedway has been accomplished, and that the financial is the final piece to the project. Gardner said the investors control the development of the site, and that they will control the master plan and vision of the area around the speedway.

 

There was a Port of Morrow conference call

 

Lisa Mittelsdorf talked to WCVEDG about the sale of the industrial park. She said they had sent documents Friday for the lease agreement. She said it was a 2 year lease with an option to purchase. She said the Port was trying to convince the DEQ not to require 4 quarters of monitoring before giving its ok.

Lisa said she has received a lot of inquires about leasing the buildings at the industrial park. She said Kevin Caldwell’s phone number was 503-378-9177 for those who have interest in the park.  She said the port is as busy as she has seen it in all the years she has worked there.

 

E commerce zone

 

WCVEDG was informed that it needed to fill out the application for the e commerce zone and send into the state. There was a motion and seconded that David Sykes would fill out the application and send it in. Motion passed.

 

Other business

 

George said goals have been established and he would share them with the group at the April meeting.

John Edmundson will establish a matrix of all groups, etc. and their goals to coordinate efforts in the area.

Rick Minister said there is a new state economic development director Bob Repine.

He said the state sees the speedway as good for the state and good for Boardman. He said state bonds will not be used in its development. Rick said the speedway does not qualify for the industrial enterprise zone, but could qualify for the rural enterprise zone. He said there could be an extension on the rural enterprise zone, and that tax incentives could be for up to 7 years.

 

Meeting adjourned.

David Sykes

Acting secretary