There is almost no way for an in-depth researcher and land man like me to keep up with the growth in Hillsboro, Oregon. There is little to no way anyone else can either. But on the ground, people are noticing the small black silt fences going up along NW Evergreen Road and NW Jackson School Road. Others have mentioned on social media that the old Vanderzanden Windmill and tulip farm are gone. With no master plans offered by the City of Hillsboro, unpublished utility designs, few if any public hearings, and a disjointed set of annexations and zone changes, the future is about to happen on another vast area of historic farms that have hugged the people of Hillsboro for generations. A future that will end 180 years of farming that has gone on since William Baldra filed his Donation Land Claim and broke the land, with the help of his buddy and founder of Washington County, Colonel Joseph LaFayette Meek.
The Past Featured The Baldra Family – contributed by historian Ginny Meek
Stepping back, the Baldra family was also involved with the York Factory and the Red River Settlers from Canada.
William and Maria Baldra with their two young sons came from Norway House in Canada starting in June, reaching Fort Vancouver in October, 1839. William and Maria traveled 2250 miles in 90 days, on the York Factory Express. [Hudson’s Bay Company York boats were used.] They traveled about 26 miles per day.
After that arduous journey, the Baldras were employed as farm workers for the Hudson’s Bay Company at Fort Vancouver’s dairy farm on Multnomah (Wapato) Island.[Later Sauvie Island] Here Maria gave birth to a baby girl, Mary Jane Baldra, on August 1, 1840. An Indian woman was there to help Maria during the birth. Mary Jane Baldra is said to have been the first white baby girl born in Oregon. In her later years she was presented with an inscribed silver goblet by the pioneer society.
The Baldras moved in 1842 to the Tualatin Plains taking land near Joe Meek and his Nez Perce wife, Virginia, and their Family. (640 Acre Land Claim).
Daughter, Mary Jane Baldra attended the Tualatin Academy in Forest Grove in 1854. Where she would make drawings of people in her classroom.
In her later years she recalled her marriage to Richard Wiley-
“Sometimes an old man of forty or fifty would marry a girl of twelve or fourteen, so that he could take up a 640-acre claim. A man named Richard Wiley found a fine claim [160 acres of Joe Meek’s claim] in Washington County and, having found the claim, looked around for a wife. He found me, and we were married, July 29, 1855. I was older than some of the girls who got married, however, for I was fifteen.” Mary Jane recalled.
When Mary Jane Baldra married Richard E. Wiley, he was 32. Wiley was the first newspaper man in the NW Territory, a multiple term Sheriff in Wahington County, a businessman, and a famous bar owner of the now infamous Wiley’s Place in Hillsboro. A bar that defined the Sin Cty era of Hillsboro’s past. Lukc for him his Father inlaw, Mr Baldra, was known for his potent Moonshine that he made on the Baldra Farm.
Photo: William Baldra and Maria Baldra from Ancestry.com
Here is the Donation Land Claim map for the William Baldra Donation Land Claim as it was filed.
In 1865, the United States surveyed the west, and here, overlayed on a street map, the original location of the Baldra farmhouse can be seen. It was a glorious farm that provided a great bounty and fertile ground for the Baldra family to grow.
Here is a photo of Mary Jane Baldra as a young woman after marrying Richard Wiley.
For many decades, the Baldra farm has been home to the Vanderzanden Family, and many know them or branches of their families. In 2014, the State of Oregon and the City of Hillsboro demanded that more Industrial land be brought into the Urban Growth Boundary here in Hillsboro. The need, they argued, was because a secretive employer was about to locate in Hillsboro, and hundreds of acres were needed for their use, or they would not come. The secret project known only to a few high-ranking government officials was nicknamed Project Azalea. So, despite opposition from land use groups, the biggest one-time land annexation in the history of Oregon was done.The Grand Bargain, they called it- over 1,100 acres of land for “High Paying Jobs”. Despite the convincing, urgent need for this land to be included in the UGB, Project Azalaea, whoever they were, never showed up. Not then, and not now.
The Vanderzandens / VanRose ownership group appears to have sold all or most of the land. The windmill has been torn down, and now the machines are rolling and smashing homes and buildings. The future has started. The farmland has changed hands, and in the last transfer, almost $166,000,000 changed hands in one transaction.
So, What Is The Future Of The Land
Ladies and gentlemen, after a great deal of effort, I finally got the plans for what is happening now and what is to come. And if you were hoping for another tech firm and those much-talked-about ‘High-paying jobs’, you will be disappointed. What is coming? Let’s have a look.
If you follow this link on the net, you will see leasing offerings for a massive 300,000 SF warehouse with loading docks. It looks like an Amazon Distribution center or something similar. On that brochure online, you will see sales markers for the parcels spoken for. It looks like this.
Taking things a bit further, I obtained the grading permit for this project from CWS of all agencies. That tells an even more detailed and somewhat shocking story.
Let’s look a little closer. 4 Massive Data Center Buildings on the right-hand side. Each of them appears to be 10-15 acres under roof. These four would be perhaps the most extensive set of Data Centers we have seen to date in Hillsboro, and will push our community over 20 built facilities and #3 in the Nation in total Data Center Megawatts. Sadly, when construction stops, not very many jobs are left. And each building will get a 5-Year Enterprise zone package and will pay no property taxes for 5 years. No jobs, no revenues, and questionable environmental impacts with few if any benefits for Hillsboro and its citizens. Not to mention the loss of farm land.
The big building on the left is a Logistics Center. That means Amazon or something very much like it. $30 an hour jobs? Looks like it. And it is massive, I am getting roughly 30 acres under one roof. That middle building is about 8 acres and is being marketed for lease as a 300,000+ SF space as the Vanrose Technology Center. From the Brochure: https://www.loopnet.com/viewer/pdf?file=https%3a%2f%2fimages1.loopnet.com%2fd2%2fEUTrrIw2GDttyX4-ZroIIqa2M5HHihBBbyRcJWWrXZE%2fVanRose%2520Technology%2520Center%2520%2520Sale%2520%2520Lease%2520Brochure.pdf
The City of Hillsboro has a decades-long history of providing growing companies with land, infrastructure, workforce, and economic incentives. These tools are designed to attract and retain some of Oregon’s most significant employers and their clients, suppliers, and customers. In addition, HCP is located within the Hillsboro Enterprise Zone Program, which offers substantial tax abatement for eligible businesses with a relatively low bar for participation.
Power, water, and data infrastructure within the North Hillsboro Industrial Area provides a unique combination unmatched within the Portland area and beyond.
The historically strong workforce already established in the area is growing with the help of significant new residential projects on the south end of Hillsboro and a growing amenity within the city’s core area.
In Oregon, corporate business tax accounts for less than 3.5 percent of the gross state product, compared with 4.7 percent for California and 4.9 percent for Texas.
Businesses will find that Oregon has designed their tax codes to attract and retain companies. As a result, Oregon’s state tax structures rank in the top fifth of the nation for having a business-friendly tax structure.
The buildings in a cluster along Jackson School Road and South of the new Huffman Blvd. expressway, a three —to five-lane fast-moving road, are labeled as a manufacturing hub. I see several buildings, 2,000 parking spaces, and almost 500,000 SF. The brochure online indicates the land is sold, and perhaps the building has been spoken for. This may be a tech firm, a semiconductor parts manufacturer, or something else. Will these be the high-paying jobs?
We started in the past, and now we look at the future. Farming is disappearing quickly in this valley. Now is the time for reflection and for many of us to ask ourselves, “Is this better? ” These Data Centers will drive AI. Many of you, a good percentage, will lose or have to change your careers because of AI in the next few years. Yet here we are—in Hillsboro, Oregon—building that very scary future at breakneck speed.
Logistics Centers this far West of I-5? Please. Hillsboro aspires to care about the climate, but none of this does anything about that. The Vanderzanden Reservoir has only been seen by a few, but let me tell you all, it is spectacular. The wildlife there will not benefit from this. I believe that we have sold out and that Wall Street is reaping all the benefits. These are not local companies. I can not blame the Vanderzandens for selling. I would have too. But this is not leadership really- this just looks like hubris and greed to me.
Many of you asked. You wanted to know and deserved to know. So now you do. I hope you begin to appreciate the Hillsboro and County we have before it is all gone.
Tags: City of HillsboroData CentersIndustrial LandINTEL
