Oregon Coast Economic Summit

2024 Oregon Coast Economic Summit
Thank you for a great 2024 Oregon Coast Economic Summit. We look forward to seeing you in 2025!

Summit Highlights Economic Challenges, Opportunities for Oregon Coast

After a five-year hiatus, the Oregon Coast Economic Summit returned to Lincoln City on Wednesday, May 8, shining a spotlight on the unique opportunities and challenges facing coastal communities.

Throughout the day policymakers and experts gathered at Chinook Winds Casino Resort discussing everything from workforce development to emergency preparedness. Other sessions focused on balancing growth and sustainability; renewable energy and environmental stewardship; upgrading critical infrastructure; sustaining coastal fisheries; and building more affordable housing. Legislators also shared their priorities for the region and how they can help coastal business adapt and thrive.

In his introduction, Rep. David Gomberg, chairman of the Coastal Caucus, said the goal was for attendees to “network, plan, and strategize” on issues affecting the region’s economy.

Housing Discussions

Outlining Strategies for Affordable Housing

A major recurring theme of the summit was the lack of available and affordable housing along the coast. One panel, moderated by Sen. Dick Anderson (R-Lincoln City), identified strategies for boosting housing stock and revitalizing coastal communities.

Tom Petitt, Oregon Vice President for Commonwealth Real Estate Solutions, said they are focused on building more attractive manufactured homes for the region, citing Cherry Hill in Lincoln City as an example. But he said landlords continue to bump into roadblocks like the need for more available land.

“People are looking for another option other than single-family homes that have become more difficult for them to capture,” he said. Anderson added that, in February the legislature did pass several bills aimed at increasing housing production and supply.

Parker Sammons, housing coordinator for Tillamook County, said it is critical for communities to think about what kinds of new units will work best in their communities.

“It’s not just a need, it’s an inefficiency crisis,” Sammons said. “There’s not enough money to build our way out of this problem. If we want to get holistic, we have to start addressing the root problem, not just the symptom.”

Renewable Energy Discussions

Experts Discuss Economic Potential for Renewable Energy

Jake Stephens, CEO of the Bend-based NewSun Energy, and Shannon Souza, owner of Sol Coast Consulting & Design, led a panel on the potential for renewable energy development on the coast, which they argued would benefit both the environment and economy.

As Oregon pursues ambitious 100% clean energy goals, Stephens said de-carbonization becomes “an issue of scale,” working to displace billions of dollars of old fossil fuel-emitting infrastructure.

Transmission capacity is one major hurdle, as it can take up to 15 years to permit new power lines, Stephens said. He calculated that if developers were to build projects installing more than 45,000 megawatts of clean energy to meet statewide goals, it would contribute $15 billion to Oregon’s economy by 2040, with an annual average of 7,000 construction jobs and 1,400 jobs in operations and maintenance.

“There’s a whole economy’s worth of economic development to build (these projects),” he said.

Apart from wind and solar development, Souza pointed to renewable hydrogen as a clean fuel source that could help to de-carbonize the maritime sector. Making renewable hydrogen in Oregon could be done through electrolysis, or gasification of biomass, specifically slash and ladder fuels from forests, resulting in the added benefit of lowering wildfire risk.

“That’s a really huge sustainable economic development opportunity,” she said.

Workforce Discussions

Improving Quality of Care in Coastal Communities

Jane Russell of Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital in Newport, spoke on a panel covering workforce development, where she reviewed what her organization is doing to attract rural health care workers and get them to establish roots in the community.

According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, there was a projected shortage of between 21,400 and 55,200 primary care physicians nationwide. To combat this locally, Russell pointed to a newly created three-year rural residency tract for family medicine doctors.

As with other industries, housing, she said, is a critical barrier.

“I can tell you many, many stories of people we’ve lost because they couldn’t find housing,” Russell said. “I think this is something that affects us all, and is really an area that when I started in health care, I didn’t realize I would care about … We actually lease apartments. We take a loss on these apartments because we want to try to have affordable housing for some of these employees.

“We try to mitigate this, but we still need help,” she added.

Another barrier is nursing education. Russell said they are collaborating with legislators, community partners, and health care professionals looking for solutions, while also using technology — such as telemedicine and artificial intelligence tools — to improve the quality of care in rural coastal communities.

These tools also help save time and reduce burnout, Russell added.

Construction Discussions

Coastal Ports Eyeing Investments

Leaders at the Port of Newport and International Port of Coos Bay talked about potential investments to boost coastal industries, including commercial fishing and product shipping.

“Today’s port is not your grandfather’s port. We are met with a lot of scrutiny when it comes to the environment. There are a lot of things we have to deal with,” said Paula Miranda, Executive Director of the Port of Newport. “That goes from dredging to building docks to trying to figure out ways to keep our mariners safe in our bay, particularly with jetties and so forth.”

Costs for this work are only going up, Miranda said. For example, dredging costs five years ago were about $300,000, versus $1.1 million today. Particularly since the pandemic, she said infrastructure costs “have tripled, and even quadrupled in many cases.”

“We get an estimate today and we think we are ready to go, but by the time we finally get our permit — sometimes a year later — that project (cost) has doubled,” she said.

Looking ahead, Miranda said costs for the port’s Dock 7 replacement project have swelled from $18 million in 2018 to $34.5 million today. That work needs to be done, she said, “to modernize things and bring it into this era … If you look at today’s facilities, they’re literally falling apart.”

John Burns, CEO for the International Port of Coos Bay, detailed the benefits of a proposed new container terminal at his port, which has received support from the Coastal Caucus as well as Oregon’s federal congressional delegation and the Oregon construction industry.

“We have been working for two years now to get this done, and we have been making progress,” he said. “The demand for container growth in the U.S. is going to increase over the next 10 years … The ports that exist on the West Coast of the U.S. today are pretty much maxed out.

“The Port of Coos Bay is a mere stone’s throw away from the Pacific Ocean,” Burns added. “When all things play out, Coos Bay proves itself to be an ideal location.”

Agriculture, construction, and forest products moving in and out of the terminal will be done almost entirely by rail, Burns said. That will reduce truck congestion on roads and lower the facility’s overall carbon footprint.

“Right now, the U.S. is losing valuable cargo to Canada,” he said. “This is an opportunity for us to create great jobs along the coast.”

Legisaltive Discussions

Legislative Caucus Discusses Priorities

Members of the Oregon Coastal Caucus took the stage together where they shared insights and fielded questions from the audience on legislative priorities for the coast.

Gomberg, a Democrat whose district includes Lincoln County, described how the region’s demographics and economy have evolved over time, going from predominantly fishing, farming, and forestry to more tourism and retirees. He said the largest local source of local income now comes from retirement payments.

Gomberg and Sen. Suzanne Weber (R-Tillamook) called for greater investments in critical infrastructure — such as roads, water, and sewer — to support future growth.

“As a coast, we’re going to have to seriously work at making sure our infrastructure is going to be in a place to build out what is going to be necessary in the future,” Weber said.

Growing the coastal economy also means greater workforce development, Gomberg said. In order to do that, the region needs to build more affordable housing.

“Whether it’s a barista or a brain surgeon, people can’t find a home they can afford,” Gomberg said. “It ripples through the entire economy.”

In Salem, caucus members pointed to several examples of successful legislation, including bills to bolster marine reserves, set a roadmap for analyzing potential offshore wind development, clean up derelict boats and vessels from waterways, and support the development of a new container shipping terminal at the International Port of Coos Bay.

Rep. Boomer Wright (R-Coos Bay) said the challenges are real, but expressed a sense of optimism when he said, “There are no more resilient people than there are on the Oregon coast.”

“We’ve got the people to solve those problems. Many of them are in this room,” Wright said. “If we can be of help (as legislators), we’ll be here.”

2024 Oregon Coast Economic Summit

Summit Highlights Economic Challenges, Opportunities for Oregon Coast

Outlining Strategies for Affordable Housing