Project Roundup: The CTUIR Coyote Business/Industrial Park Complex

by Howard Perry, P.E., Senior Engineer

The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR), through its Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD), has adopted a forward-thinking approach to creating economic development and employment opportunities for its 2,550 tribal members. In 2002, AP prepared a Business/Industrial Park Master Plan for 550 acres owned by the CTUIR. This development, known as the Coyote Business/Industrial Park Complex, is located next to the Interstate 84 – Highway 331 interchange just east of Pendleton.  The Master Plan for the project evaluated alternatives for site development and developed recommendations and costs for infrastructure improvements for both short-term and long-term development of the properties owned by the CTUIR.

The DECD developed a funding package for the project that involved many partners, comprising USDA Rural Development, the U.S. Economic Development Administration, the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department, and the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) through its Immediate Opportunity Funding Program.

The first phase of the project, known as the Coyote Business Park North, was constructed in 2007, consisting of 14 lots and 22.5 acres with full infrastructure, including water, sewer, roadways, and utilities. This phase of the project has the capacity to be increased by an additional 24 acres when growth demands require expansion.

In 2008, the second phase of the project, known as the Coyote Business/Industrial Park South, will be constructed. This phase of the project will be composed of 9 lots, for a total of 95 acres equipped with water, sewer, and an underground utility infrastructure. Coyote Business/Industrial Park South can be easily expanded by an additional 200 acres. AP has been pleased to have the opportunity to provide design and construction engineering services for both of these projects.  The project costs for the 2007-08 improvements are approximately $4.5 million.

In 2007, two Fortune 500 companies located in the Coyote Business Park North: the DaVita Inc., kidney dialysis center and Cayuse Technologies, an Accenture venture, which is a software programming, digital document processing, and call center firm that will provide more than 250 family wage jobs. Further opportunities in the business park include light manufacturing.  Antone Minthorn, Chairman of the CTUIR Board of Trustees, sees this as just the beginning. In an article for Oregon Business magazine, he said of the Coyote project that “We are on the cutting edge of economic development in rural Oregon.”

AP has enjoyed the opportunity to work with several other communities and agencies in Eastern Oregon to plan and design business and industrial parks in rural Oregon, such as projects for the City of Baker City, Gilliam County, Union County, the City of La Grande, the City of Elgin, Grant County, and the Union County Economic Development Corporation.