News Release
FOR RELEASE - May 3, 2007
Contact: Aaron Ellis, aellis@aapa-ports.org
703-684-5700

American Association of Port Authorities
Phone: (202) 792-4033
www.aapa-ports.org

AAPA Workshop in Oxnard, Calif., June 19-20, to Focus on Land-Use Challenges to Port Expansion

Globalization, rapidly rising cargo volumes, burgeoning interest in leisure cruise travel, growing environmental concerns and strong demand for waterfront land are putting ports throughout the hemisphere under pressure to expand their facilities while, at the same time, to work with their communities to maintain—and in many cases, reduce—their current footprint.  To address these mounting development challenges, the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) will hold its 2007 Maritime Economic Development Workshop in Oxnard, Calif., June 19-20, for port authority professionals and private-sector business managers.

“Without question, ports throughout the Western Hemisphere are under increasing capacity pressures from growing freight and cruise passenger volumes, and from the communities they serve that are affected by this growth,” said Kurt Nagle, AAPA’s president and CEO.  “The focus of AAPA’s Maritime Economic Development Workshop will be to showcase best practices in dealing with the ‘gentrification’ of port property and to discuss the issue of eminent domain as it relates to port and infrastructure development.”

The AAPA workshop will be split into three sessions, with each session covering particular land-use issues and challenges faced by public port authorities.

Session One will feature discussions on the competing demands and uses of port property, particularly at ports where developers and other community interests are pushing for non-maritime uses of land, thereby limiting a port’s future options.  Session Two will showcase how various ports are responding to land-use pressures and will feature some of the tools and techniques they are employing to manage their properties.  Session Three will explore additional options available to ports to respond to cargo and passenger growth, and to attract businesses that will create employment, increase investment in their community and utilize the port’s cargo and passenger handling capabilities.  This final session will also highlight the challenges and impediments to using a port’s authority to condemn land (“eminent domain”), closing with case studies and lessons learned by ports that have used the power of eminent domain to fulfill their economic development objectives.

More information about AAPA’s Maritime Economic Development Workshop is available at www.aapa-ports.org (click on the “Programs & Events” tab) or by calling AAPA’s Ed O’Connell at 703-684-5700.

WHO:             American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA)

WHAT:           Workshop on challenges, best practices and lessons learned in port development land use

WHEN:           June 19-20, 2007 (Day 1, 8am-4:45pm; Day 2, 8:30am-noon)

WHERE:        Embassy Suites Mandalay Beach Resort, 2101 Mandalay Beach Road, Oxnard, Calif.