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QuickTake:
An Amazon distribution center in Salem, though bigger than the proposed Eugene project, paid Marion County $1.8 million in property taxes last year.
A proposed e-commerce facility near the Eugene Airport, long rumored to be Amazon, is now confirmed to be Amazon.
For months, officials avoided naming the company behind the project, and the city of Eugene referred only to an “e-commerce development” in an online Q&A.
A deed filed Dec. 31 with the Lane County Clerk’s office shows Amazon purchased the land, along Highway 99, for $2 million.
A warehouse will occupy 318,000 square feet, according to a permit application filed in November with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Oregon Department of State Lands. With its considerable size, the facility could become one of Lane County’s largest property taxpayers.
A 1-million-square-foot Amazon distribution center in Salem that opened in 2019 generated $1.8 million in property tax revenue for Marion County last year, according to the county assessor’s office.
Though the proposed Eugene warehouse is only about one-third the size, it could eventually make Amazon one of the 10 largest property taxpayers in Lane County.
The land Amazon purchased is not within the West Eugene Enterprise Zone, an area where developers can request three years of property tax exemptions for new construction.
Opponents of the facility say it would cause environmental harm and increase traffic.
The facility is estimated to include 976 fleet vehicle parking spaces and roughly 2,600 daily vehicle trips. At the moment, it’s unclear how many vehicles would be electric, diesel-powered or a combination.
The project would also require filling about 6 acres of saturated wetlands, according to the construction application.
The public had opportunities to air comments about the project to local agencies. Yet the administrative officials in charge of the permitting process have said they had no control over stopping the facility’s construction, despite significant community opposition.
At the moment, information regarding the number or type of jobs brought by the project remains unknown, according to the city of Eugene’s website. The Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce did not immediately reply to a request for comment.