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Harney County moves to submit two Opportunity Zone 2.0 nominations; tribal tract seen as priority
Summary
County staff and Catalyst consultant Nick told the county court the Opportunity Zone 2.0 nomination window closes May 22; they recommended the Burns Paiute reservation tract be nominated by the tribe as priority while the county pursue the southern tract, and discussed pitching a joint presentation to the governor.
Harney County Court members heard from Catalyst consultant Nick on April 15 about a limited window to submit Opportunity Zone 2.0 nominations and a strategy to nominate two census tracts covering the county.
Nick told the court the application filing deadline is Friday, May 22 at 5:00 p.m., and that the county had only weeks to gather the data and narratives the application requires. He recommended a dual‑submission strategy: the Burns Paiute reservation tract should be nominated by the tribe as the priority nomination and the county should submit for the southern census tract as a secondary nomination so that together the two filings would cover the county.
The county discussed coordinating a joint presentation — including the tribe, the cities and the county — to the governor to show regional solidarity behind any nomination. Representative Owens was cited in the meeting as advising the group to schedule a governor briefing once the jurisdictions have the application materials finalized.
Nick outlined the technical constraints of Opportunity Zone (OZ) funds: qualified OZ funds must invest through eligible businesses (typically LLCs structured as qualified opportunity zone businesses), and deals require private placement memoranda and clear liquidation events after the 10‑year hold period. He said the examples he knows are primarily housing and industrial projects, and that he has not yet found widely documented precedents for structuring investments in ranching or agricultural enterprises; he proposed researching comparable deals to make the county’s submission more persuasive.
Court members and staff flagged local context as central to their pitch. They said a December water‑resource ruling has added urgency and that the county’s four‑jurisdiction joint resolution with the tribe and cities could strengthen a narrative that investment is necessary to sustain working ranches and pivot to higher‑value enterprises.
Nick said he would assemble draft application materials after another week or so of data gathering and that staff would circulate a draft for review. The court discussed scheduling an in‑person or virtual presentation with the governor in the nomination window after Business Oregon’s filing period opens on July 1 for gubernatorial nominations.
Next steps: county staff will continue data collection and work with Catalyst to produce draft application materials; the court agreed to evaluate a governor presentation if the jurisdictions finalize a joint application package.
