HASSO HERING

Through this hazelnut orchard near the Conser Road crossing, a driveway will lead to the planned Timberlab complex.

This photo, taken on a bike ride in June 2023, comes in handy now to illustrate a historic deal that saves the Dever-Conner farming area near Millersburg from urban or industrial expansion for the next 51 years.

The picture shows the hazelnut orchard south of Conser Road and west of the Portland & Western Railroad track, the former Oregon Electric line.

This is where, early last year, Millersburg tried to expand its urban growth boundary so that an Italian manufacturer could buy the orchard and build a factory to make paper products such as tissue.

One big objection was the loss of farm land, and the plan foundered when the Linn County Board of Commissioners, on a vote of 2-1, refused to allow the growth boundary change.

Now another industrial project is in the works, on part of 61 acres Millersburg owns west of the rail line and already inside the city limits. Timberlab, which produces so-called mass timber for the construction of big buildings like the new Portland airport terminal, intends to buy the city’s property for a manufacturing plant.

But the only feasible access is outside the city limits, from Conser Road across a corner of the hazelnut orchard, and for that the city needed Linn County’s approval of an exception from laws on farmland.

Linn County, Millersburg, and property owners including farmers worked out a deal on the urban growth boundary (UGB) to protect farmland, and the county agreed to allow the Timberlab driveway.

A formal intergovernmental agreement between the county and Millersburg was approved by both on July 30. It says the parties recognize the significance of farming in Dever-Conner, and it provides: “No UGB expansion shall include the Dever-Conner Agricultural District before Jan. 1, 2075.”

As defined on a map that’s part of the agreement, the Dever-Conner district covers all the land north and west of Millersburg to the Santiam and Willamette rivers.

Now the Timberlab project is moving to another step with a Sept. 3 public hearing on the site plan before the Millersburg Planning Commission. The plan calls for developing the factory on 31 acres in two phases.

The hearing agenda mentions two buildings, one of 185,000 square feet for production and offices, and the other of 85,000 square feet for fabrication and finishing, along with storage areas, parking, water quality features, and a railroad spur.

The agreement on protecting the farming district from expansion of an urban growth boundary is historic, in my opinion, because I’ve never heard of anything similar.

Timberland, by the way, in June purchased the former Georgia Pacific and then Interfor sawmill and planing mill in Philomath. The company told Philomath News the mill will “support a nearby cross-laminated timber facility.”

For more on the company’s Millersburg plans, check the story that appeared here in May. (hh)

This rendering of the planned Timberlab factory was included with the Millersburg Planning Commission agenda.