Newberg council adopts 2021 economic opportunities analysis, cites industry land needs

The Newberg City Council adopted the City of Newberg Economic Opportunities Analysis and amended the comprehensive plan on Aug. 4, approving Ordinance No. 2025-2936 by a roll-call vote. The ordinance—which the council read by title only and waived a second reading—updates Chapter 5 (land supply and need) of the comprehensive plan and provides a 20-year employment forecast and buildable lands inventory. Staff planner James Dingwall told the council the EOA projects that between 2021 and 2041 the city’s employment base will expand by about 4,400 jobs and that industrial employment is expected to grow as a share of total employment from roughly 25% to 32%. “Because of that, the analysis breaks the industrial land need up by site sizes,” Dingwall said, summarizing the report’s finding that the city will need about 152 acres of industrial land and that the city shows a 21-acre surplus of commercial land in the snapshot analysis. Supporters and several council members said the document provides a functional, usable update from prior plan data. Several residents and at least one councilor urged caution, noting the EOA is a snapshot using 2021 data and pointing to parcels rezoned or developed since then that could change the net land supply. A public commenter asked the council to correct mapping and land-classification errors before codifying the document. Council debate centered on whether to adopt the EOA now or delay and task staff or consultants with updating the buildable lands inventory and other tables. Dingwall and other staff explained the EOA is a snapshot used for long-range planning and that more detailed updates—such as a refreshed buildable lands inventory calibrated to new population forecasts—could be completed later and would be necessary if the city pursued an urban growth boundary amendment. Roll call showed Councilor McBride voting no and Councilors Wheatley, Yarnell Holloman, Turgessin, Carmen and Mayor Rosacker voting yes; the motion passed. The ordinance language adopted updates the comp plan text to reflect the EOA and specifies that residential and public land need sections will be updated later when the city completes the housing work scheduled for 2027–2028. Looking ahead, staff said the EOA will serve as the basis for any future requests to the state for urban growth boundary changes and that additional, targeted updates may be appropriate if the council seeks to pursue a UGB amendment based on current conditions.