City of Sherwood Economic Opportunities Analysis

The Sherwood City Council adopted Ordinance No. 2021-011 which adopted the Economic Opportunities Analysis (EOA) for Statewide Goal 9 compliance as a supporting document to the City’s Comprehensive Plan on December 7, 2021.

The EOA is a technical study that compares local demand of industrial and other employment uses to the existing land supply. The information derived from the EOA helps the community to better implement local economic development objectives as well as to evaluate and develop supporting Comprehensive Plan policies.

The 2021 EOA assumes an employment average annual growth rate of 1.42 and uses Metro’s 2045 Employment Forecast. By 2041, there will be an increase of 2,987 employees or thirty-three (33%) of employees in the Sherwood UGB.

As Sherwood has seen significant growth in all development sectors within the past 5 years a 2023 EOA update was conducted to re-evaluate the employment growth rate and supply of needed industrial land.

The 2023 Draft EOA assumes an employment average annual growth rate of 3.2% for the twenty-year planning period, yielding a net increase of 8,280 jobs through 2042.  This employment forecast was influenced by the research and analysis conducted which based on identified trends, and more optimistic growth outlook for targeted industries, and input from the EOA Technical Advisory Committee.   The 2023 EOA shows that Sherwood has a deficit of 277-employment acres for job creation over the planning period. The 2023 EOA provides a detailed list of economic development actions that the city may consider that are consistent with the City’s Comprehensive Plan goals and policies that will help carry out the vision to create and maintain robust employment opportunities to diversify the City’s tax base.

The Sherwood City Council will be holding a public hearing on June 6^th and 20^th to consider adopting the 2023 EOA.