A bill passed the Senate yesterday that will allow the City of Redmond to rezone a 465 acre parcel of land adjacent to the Redmond Airport. This report came from Senator Chris Telfer’s office. Currently zoned as open space, this area within the City may soon be home to companies and new business who can take advantage of the opportunities to be gained as industrial land.
Senators Chris Telfer and Senator Lee Beyer of Eugene, co-carried the bill. Senator Beyer spent some time Central Oregon and viewed the parcel in Redmond back in November. Senator Beyer chairs the Senate Business, Transportation and Economic Committee, from where the bill was propsed, received a hearing and passed unanimously.
In his floor speech, Senator Beyer describes the land in Redmond as possibly “one of the best industrial sites in the state”. He further explains that this site has generated a lot of interest in recent years, from companies who have chosen to relocate in other states because of the cumbersom bureaucratic process they would have needed to endure. “We need jobs, this is an opportunity. It deserves your support”, says Senator Beyer in urging an aye vote from his Senate colleagues.
“We had a lot of collaboration on this bill from the City of Redmond, ODOT, DLCD, 1000 Friends, LandWatch, Economic Development for Central Oregon, the Bend Chamber of Commerce and a lot of bi-partisan legislative support”, says Senator Telfer as she’s presenting the bill to her Senate colleagues. “This is a jobs creation bill,” she emphasized.
The comments were followed by the unanimous passing of SB 1544 by the Senate members. Now that it has passed the Senate, it will be referred to the House, where it will likely be assigned to the House Transportation and Economic Development Committee and follow the same process in the House.
