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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, 2020
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Approval could bring 100
jobs to Aurora airport
The former church camp bordering the Aurora State Airport has been abandoned for decades. BILL POEHLER | STATESMAN JOURNAL
Bill Poehler
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
A step in the redevelopment that
could keep one of the largest employers
at Aurora State Airport was approved
Wednesday.
The Marion County commissioners
voted to rezone the former church camp
property to commercial from exclusive
farm use over the objections of neigh-
boring cities and paved the way for the
long vacant parcel to be redeveloped
into buildings for airport-related busi-
nesses projected to bring 100 new jobs
and $15 million a year.
Life Flight Network had threatened
to relocate to Redmond or Boise if the
application wasn’t approved as the
company currently splits its offices be-
tween the airport and Wilsonville and
wants to consolidate operations at the
airport.
“Our airport is home to dozens of lo-
cal businesses conducting missions
critical to the safety and well-being of
our communities every day,” Friends of
Aurora Airport spokesman Dylan Fred-
erick said.
“This decision is a win for all of the
families and communities that are
served by the important work done by
airport businesses every day.”
The 16-acre parcel is bordered on
three sides by airport-related business-
es. A former Methodist Church Camp
with over a dozen small buildings, it has
been vacant for years, but has remained
zoned for exclusive farm use.
The land was purchased by TLM
Holdings, a company owned by Ted Mil-
lar which owns a number of parcels
around the airport, for $2.1 million in
2015, according to Marion County Tax
Assessor records.
It has long been eyed for airport-re-
lated development due to its proximity
and ability for the businesses to have
accessibility to the runway.
And it is the last parcel of undevel-
oped land suitable for development of
the state-owned airport.
“It’s hard for me to see any other use
or any other piece of property that could
be justified for this type of use,” Marion
County Commissioner Colm Willis said.
Marion County hearing’s officer An-
na Gasser in November 2019 decided
TLM Holdings should pay $475,409 for
its proportionate share of traffic mitiga-
tion, which was approved Wednesday.
“Our position was this was entirely
expected because in 2009 this same
body approved a separate 27-acre appli-
cation that became Helicopter Trans-
port Services,” said Ben Williams of
Friends of French Prairie, a land conser-
vation group.
Aurora planning commission chair
Joseph Schaefer raised issues including
sewer and water system for new devel-
opment at the airport during a public
hearing.
Wilsonville raised objections to the
rezoning, including potential impacts it
could have on traffic at intersections
around the airport and on Interstate 5 at
the Boone Bridge south of Wilsonville.
“Just for the counties’ sake, every
time Wilsonville wants to develop
something, I insist that we ask them to
justify their impacts to the Boone
Bridge,” Marion County Commissioner
Sam Brentano said.
“They only see it one way, anything
that interferes with their development
is bad and we overlook theirs.”
Separately, an appeal about the ex-
pansion of the airport’s runway that in-
volves Aurora, Wilsonville, the state,
Marion and Clackamas counties is be-
ing considered by the state’s land use
board of appeals.
Bill Poehler covers Marion County for
the Statesman Journal. Contact him at
bpoehler
@statesmanjournal.com
or
Twit-
ter.com/bpoehler
The Aurora
State Airport
in Aurora on
Wednesday,
Oct. 24, 2018.
There is a $37
million dollar
proposal to
expand the
airport. ANNA
REED / STATESMAN
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