I don’t think any of us realized it at the time that the bridge was built, really, what the impacts would be or could be, but it opened our city up. … It was like a dream come true because seven miles from our city limits is a major highway, and a major bridge, and a major airport. … So I think a lot of the growth that we’ve seen, both economic and residential, is directly attributable to that bridge. … The growth would have occurred, but it would have been much slower.–Camas Mayor Dean Dossett, 2000 interview
Several events in the early 1980s directly affected the growth of the City of Camas. One was the 1982 opening of the I-205 Glenn Jackson Bridge, which provided easier access to the Portland International Airport and the Portland metropolitan area. Another turning point came when the Crown Zellerbach Corporation considered closing the Camas plant, spurring city officials to look beyond the mill for economic stability. Although Crown Zellerbach decided to reinvest in Camas by modernizing the equipment and facilities, Mayor Dean Dossett recalled that the possibility of mill closure “sounded a warning bell” to city officials, who made plans to expand the city’s tax base by luring high-tech businesses to Camas.
The Camas Mayor and City Council worked with private developers to plan the industrial-zoned Cascade Business Park. The city invested $1.8 million to build Pacific Rim Boulevard and install sewer and water lines for the privately-owned business park. Camas also annexed more than 2,000 acres so that the business park, which is located west of Prune Hill, would be inside city limits.
Recently the city spent $2.16 million on infrastructure and wetlands mitigation for the business park’s Parker Street extension.
Land annexations, new residents, and the high-tech industry have transformed Camas. Since 1983, the city has annexed 43,000 acres. Since 1990, developers have built 1,750 new homes. Roughly 6,400 more people lived in Camas in 2000 than in 1990, bringing the population to 12,949.
Despite the changes, the paper mill remains a large part of the City. Mayor Dossett has himself worked for the mill since 1963. The mill is currently the second largest city employer, with 1650 workers, and pays 13 percent of the city’s tax base, which comes primarily from property and sales taxes.
