Partnership
staff began providing support to
a Marion and Polk County Regional
Tourism Promotion Task Force in
the Spring of 2004. Under the leadership
of Salem Mayor Janet Taylor, the
Task Force was formed to explore
ways to more effectively promote
the region as a visitor destination
and to build cooperation among the
major visitor attraction and industry
stakeholders. A tourism consultant
was hired, many new ideas have been
explored and a second regional “Summit”
is planned for the Spring of 2005
to attempt to build a regional consensus
in the visitor industry for a more
effective tourism promotion strategy.
Another new initiative recently
begun by the Partnership is the
exploration of the potential for
an industry cluster among the region’s
emerging, high value agricultural
companies. The Mid-Willamette Valley
is home to a rich variety of agricultural
enterprises ranging from row crops
that provide vegetables for local
food processors, Christmas trees,
nuts and tree fruits, nursery and
horticultural crops, hops, wine
grapes, livestock, and many more
products. In Marion County alone,
approximately 200 different agricultural
products are produced commercially.
Major
crops and larger companies already
participate in long standing industry
associations or commodity groups.
Our belief is that many newly emerging
specialty products, particularly
in the gourmet food area, may benefit
from greater interaction with other
similar companies and may not be
fully aware of small business resources.
Activities will be underway in the
winter and spring to identify these
emerging enterprises and hold some
meetings to determine their interest
in cluster activities. This is a
project being undertaken in a partnership
with the Oregon economic development
districts.
This region and most of Oregon suffers
from a scarcity of attractive, ready-to-develop
industrial sites, particularly in
rural areas. We began work in October,
2004, on a rural industrial lands
inventory covering all of Marion,
Polk and Yamhill counties outside
of the Salem-Keizer urban area.
The inventory is the first step
in an attempt to address this shortage
of ready industrial sites in the
region.
Utilizing
GIS information from county assessors,
interviews with local planners,
and other sources, the inventory
will provide a comprehensive list
of sites from which additional analysis
can be done to further prioritize
and identify the most promising
locations. In later stages of work,
staff and consulting engineers will
develop cost estimates for needed
improvements on the highest priority
sites and applications will be prepared
to state and federal development
agencies to finance improvements.
