A $1.5 million project in Columbia County is a big deal, according to state Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose.
Oregon Aero executives are building a 22,000-square-foot manufacturing facility at the Scappoose Industrial Airpark. It’s a huge step forward for the community of 7,000 people, Johnson said.
“This is the dam breaking,” she said. “This is the first new construction we have seen since the recession. I see this as evidence that Columbia County is coming out of the recession, witnessed by the fact that a major company is willing to make capital improvements right here. ”
Oregon Aero, founded in 1989 by Mike and Jude Dennis, manufactures seats, helmets, headsets and other equipment for planes and pilots. The company employs 75 people. Company spokeswoman Marjorie Kramer said the new facility means new jobs, though it is too early in the process to say how many. Ground was broken last week.
Johnson said the employment prospects are exciting. At least 70 percent of Scappoose’s workers have jobs outside the city, she said.
“We're starved for indigenous jobs,” Johnson said. “To have people being able to bike to work? To walk to work? To be right here in the community? And these are manufacturing jobs that are not being outsourced. This is incredible. ”
Johnson said that as a licensed commercial pilot, she can be a bit geeky when it comes to Oregon Aero. She founded Transwestern Helicopters Inc. in 1978 and was the manager of the Aeronautics Division of the Oregon Department of Transportation’s aeronautics division from 1993 to 1998.
During the 1999 Legislature, she sponsored and championed the bill that created the Oregon Department of Aviation.
She said she gets particularly excited about Oregon Aero because the aviation helmets and other equipment it makes for the military have saved countless lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. A lot of pilots who have been in crashes know the value of Oregon Aero equipment, she added.
“Some of these crashes that would have been lethal people are walking away from,” she said.
Johnson called the company “heroic. ”
“Mike and Jude grew a little tiny company into this aviation powerhouse,” she said. “We're busting with pride that they’re right here in Scappoose. For those of us in aviation, they're the gold standard. ”
Johnson was joined by other elected officials, including U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., and state Rep. Brad Witt, D-Clatskanie, during the ground-breaking ceremony.
“This is a great opportunity for the city of Scappoose, for Columbia County and really for the entire state of Oregon,” Bonamici said during the ceremony. “This not only builds the tax base, but it provides job opportunities. And it is a great example of a company committed to keeping manufacturing right here in the United States. ”
The project is being financed by the state and the Port of St. Helens on airpark land the company will lease from the port. Mike Dennis said it will accommodate a wide range of planes and helicopters and house the company’s FAA-approved repair station and customer service department.
Contractor J.H. Kelly is scheduled to complete the facility by late February 2013, Kramer said.
The facility will include a conference room for hosting community events and let executives move their engineering department in St. Helens to the company headquarters at the airpark, Kramer said. With the new building, she added, Oregon Aero will nearly double its overall space to approximately 50,000 square feet.
“This is putting Oregon in a leadership role in aviation, but as Oregon Aero grows the aircraft industry, it also grows our community,” Witt said during the ground-breaking ceremony.
© 2012 Dolan Media Newswires. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2012 Dolan Media Newswires
