Dallas, Oregon

4 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 3, ISSUE 9 DALLAS , OREGON agriculturally rich with plenty of opportunity for outdoor recreation. “The city is very attractive for residents,” Mitchell says. “We have a traditional small town feel and people like that. There’s low crime, there’s a hospital here, there’s an aquatic center, great parks, great walking trails and sports fields and schools that make it an attractive place for people of all ages.” Because of this, Dallas has grown an average of three to five percent per year, with no end in sight. The city has crafted a series of plans to help ensure that the anticipated future growth unfolds in a way that benefits Dallas and defines its identity. Their first point of action includes a focus on the commercial and industrial side of the city to create a more diversified tax base that takes some of the burden off of residents. They are currently in the process of creating an urban renewal district centered around a former wood products mill site taking up more than 60 acres of land within the city limits. “City council has made redevelopment of that site a high priority for a number of years, so the urban renewal district will give us a financial tool to help in that redevelopment,” Mitchell notes. The district will also include a large swath of land in the southern part of the city, which is either undeveloped or underdeveloped. “It covers virtually all of the industrial land in the city,” Mitchell says. “So there is much potential for new development in the district, which should equate to a lot of tax revenue to do a lot of projects.” That could include infrastructure projects for water, wastewater, transportation improvements, as well as funding to assist with and incentivize private development. Mitchell says he hopes to have the urban renewal district in place by September and revenue coming into the city within the next couple years. He explains, “It’s a long-term, 30-year-plan, so we don’t anticipate necessarily immediate success. It’s going to take some time, but we are laying the groundwork. That’s the big thing we are