Hillsboro: Genentech Listed as New Applicant for Enterprise Zone Tax Break in City Report
- Genentech is listed as a new applicant for Hillsboro's Enterprise Zone property tax break in the city manager's report in the Oct.
- The same city manager's report says a startup, ChEmpower, withdrew its own Enterprise Zone application.
- The Genentech entry reads, in full, "Enterprise Zone — New Applications: Genentech." The report does not give the investment amount, the buildings or equipment involved, how many years of exemption t…
Genentech is listed as a new applicant for Hillsboro’s Enterprise Zone property tax break in the city manager’s report in the Oct. 6 City Council packet. The one-line entry covers applications logged from Sept. 9 to Oct. 1, 2026.
The same city manager’s report says a startup, ChEmpower, withdrew its own Enterprise Zone application. It also gives notice of a proposed change to the STACK POR03 data center site.
One line, few details
The Genentech entry reads, in full, “Enterprise Zone — New Applications: Genentech.” The report does not give the investment amount, the buildings or equipment involved, how many years of exemption the company would seek or the date it filed. The next report, in the Oct. 20 packet, covers Sept. 22 to Oct. 12 and lists no new applications, no posted agreements and no approvals.
The listings themselves began this summer. City Manager Robby Hammond told the council on June 23 that his written reports would start including new Enterprise Zone applications, according to minutes in the Sept. 1 packet.
The company’s plans were already public. Genentech’s Aug. 20 news release says it “plans to invest approximately $750 million” in a new device fill-finish plant at its 75-acre Hillsboro campus. The release expects 250 high-wage manufacturing jobs, about 200 construction jobs and commercial operations in 2031.
The Oct. 6 report opens with the project’s groundbreaking and says the plant will make “advanced drug delivery devices.” On Aug. 20, OPB reported that the company “hasn’t submitted an application” for the exemption.
What the fee math shows
The announced figure can be set against the first cost an applicant pays. Under the city’s Enterprise Zone program page, the application fee is 0.1% of the estimated investment, capped at $50,000.
By our calculation, 0.1% of $750 million is $750,000, or 15 times the cap. Any estimate above $50 million reaches the $50,000 limit (our calculation: $50,000 divided by 0.001). The record does not show what investment figure Genentech’s application uses, so the actual fee is not public.
From application to tax bill
The fee is only the first step. State law and the city’s rules set out the rest of the process, and one step happens in public on the city’s website.
| Step | What the rules say | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Filing | Firm applies to the city before site preparation, construction or hiring eligible workers | ORS 285C.140 |
| Fee | 0.1% of estimated investment, capped at $50,000 | City program page |
| Review | City and firm hold a conference; the county assessor is notified and may join | ORS 285C.140 |
| Approval | City and county assessor approve the application | ORS 285C.140 |
| Public posting | Agreement terms go on the city’s website 21 days before taking effect | ORS 285C.163; city page |
| Years 1–3 | 100% of the new property’s assessed value is exempt | ORS 285C.175 |
| Years 4–5 | Allowed only by written agreement; school support fee of 15% of abated tax | ORS 285C.160, 285C.162; city page |
The exemption under ORS 285C.175 starts in the first tax year the new property is in service. It runs that year and the next two, with up to two more under a written agreement.
State law lets the city and school district set the school support fee between 15% and 30%, and the city page lists 15% for sites in the Hillsboro School District. Hillsboro also charges a community service fee, which the city page caps at 33% of abated taxes in years 1–3 and 50% in years 4–5. That fee falls for firms with more jobs relative to their tax break.
Naming the applicant
That posting rule also carries a privacy line. The city’s July 21 report quoted state law as saying the firm’s “name and any confidential or proprietary information” may not be made public, and cited ORS 285C.160 (July 21 packet, page 685).
In the statute text on the Legislature’s site, that sentence sits in ORS 285C.163, the section on the 21-day posting. The Oct. 6 report names Genentech, and the packet documents do not explain why the name was included.
A withdrawal and a data center change
The other Enterprise Zone item in the Oct. 6 report is a withdrawal. It says ChEmpower, a startup working on “abrasive-free planarization technology,” is still planning to invest in Hillsboro but withdrew “due to the administrative burden.”
The report also gives notice of a Type II staff review for STACK POR03, a data center approved in May 2023. The changes include smaller footprints for two 2-story buildings, equipment yards on the east and west sides, a main entrance moved to the south and a new emergency-only access on the west.
The report says that application “was received before the 120-day moratorium was enacted.” The council later adopted new data center limits in Ordinance 6521 on Oct. 20, according to the city’s meeting video.
The tax program itself has an end date. City Attorney Chad Jacobs told the council on June 2 that Hillsboro’s current zone expires in 2028, with a reauthorization decision needed in 2027, according to minutes in the July 21 packet.
Any agreement with Genentech would first appear under “Pending Agreements” on the city’s program page. On Oct. 26, that section read “No results found.”
Top image: File photo, 2009: the Genentech plant in Hillsboro, before the expansion announced in 2026. Photo: M.O. Stevens, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped).
