2014 National Convening Skills Presenations Portland Plan | Page 125
Measures of Success
Land supply
Education and job training
The Oregon statewide planning system requires
that all cities have an adequate land supply to meet
the needs for future job growth. At the same time,
Portland is a land-locked city, so to meet this need
we will have to:
The city has a relatively well-educated workforce (39
percent of Portlanders have a bachelors degree), but
many of these college-educated people have moved
here from other places. In addition, many local young
people and adults do not have the education or
skills they need to succeed in today’s job market.
We need to make sure that all Portlanders receive
the education and training they need to succeed.
Building a qualified workforce that meets the
employment needs of Portland businesses should
be a collaborative effort on the part of all service
providers including higher education institutions,
community colleges, public schools, job training
organizations and local businesses.
Increase productivity from existing employment
land and facilities through reinvestment and
modernization.
Redevelop the most promising brownfields and
Superfund sites.
Remove obstacles from redevelopment while
maintaining a high level of protection for the
community and environment.
Address difficult issues related to
protecting environmentally sensitive land
while accommodating the demand for
redevelopment, especially in the industrial areas
along the riverfront.
Current estimates show that Portland will need over
3,600 acres of land to accommodate projected job
growth, including about 1,900 acres for industrial
jobs. However, Portland currently only has about
3,200 acres of vacant or potentially redevelopable
land, most of which has some kind of constraint that
will make it challenging to develop.
Portland has an estimated 1,050 acres of
potential brownfields, which represent nearly
one-third of the developable employment land
supply. Due to the cost of clean up, market
studies tell us that the private sector is likely to
only clean up and redevelop about one-third of
these brownfields by 2035, so we will need new
programs and incentives to encourage clean-up
and reuse of more of these areas.
Portland has approximately 300 acres of
industrial land with environmental resources,
such as wetlands or riparian areas. Part of this
land could be developed, but mitigation costs
must be considered.
The remainder of the land supply needed to
meet the 2035 jobs forecast must come from
increasing the number of jobs per acre in our
existing employment districts. This comes
from new business development, changes in
the types of businesses and capitalizing on
Portland’s competitive advantages.
To reach our job target, the city will need to make
strategic and coordinated investments to overcome
these barriers to redevelopment.
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