Getting Contaminated Land Back into the Community

Written by: Clark Henry, Program Manager, Portland Brownfield Program

Environmental Cleanup Fund
During 2006, the Portland Brownfield Program grew and gained more support than ever before. During this time, Commissioner Adams secured the first ever cleanup fund from the City of Portland General Fund. Now a $500,000 revolving fund is available to bridge the financial and technical gap that often stops the cleanup and redevelopment on brownfield properties.

Environmental Assessments
The Portland Brownfield Program continued its administration of EPA Brownfield Assessment Grants to provide environmental site assessments and technical assistance on qualified properties on Portland's east side. Assessment assistance was provided to eight properties and technical assistance provided on several more. Five more are poised for enrollment into the program.

Multnomah County Brownfield
The City of Portland completed cleanup on a Multnomah County-owned brownfield located at 1949 SE Division st. Now clean, the property will be transferred to REACH Community Development Corporation and the Portland Community Land Trust for a mixed use and mixed income development.

Downtown St. Johns Brownfield Revitalization
For the first time, the City of Portland Brownfield Program has moved toward taking ownership of a property, conducting assessments and cleanup, public involvement and a development Request For Proposals. To date, the assessments and cleanup have been completed at this former gas station in downtown St. Johns. The City will retain ownership of the site from the Portland Development Commission and is currently engaged in a public involvement process intended to create a development concept for the site that will further the goals of the St. Johns commercial and residential community. Once the RFP process is completed, the property will be sold to the selected developer. Revenue from the sale will be captured by the program used on future cleanup projects.

Groundwork PDX
The Portland Brownfield Program is a partner and steering committee member on a local community based collaborative that successfully secured a grant from the National Parks Service and Groundwork USA to establish a local Groundwork Portland Trust. The Groundwork Portland trust will be an independent non-profit organization whose mission it is to turn brownfield property or otherwise derelict land into community space, parks, gardens and more.

Related Documents

• Brownfield Program web page - www.brownfield.org

Community Partners

• N/NE Portland Brownfield Community Advisory Committee
• Oregon Tradeswomen Inc
• Oregon Sustainable Agricultural Land Trust
• Organizing People Activating Leaders
• Southeast Uplift
• REACH Community Development Corporation
• Catholic Charities
• St. Vincent De Paul

Media Mentions

• The Oregonian - June 8, 2006 - "Reclaiming industrial lots"
• Turning triangular lot into a square deal, The Oregonian - March 16, 2006
• Booster boosts himself out of St. Johns
• The St. John's Sentinel:
• Diamond Block Development Moves Forward
• October 2006
• July 2006
• June 2006
• Daily Journal of Commerce - June 19, 2006 - " Former gas station site in St. Johns being readied for development"
• Daily Journal of Commerce -November 13, 2006 - "Contaminated, but hardly worthless"
• St. Johns Review - November 17, 2006 - "Process starts on development of prime land in downtown St. Johns"
• St. Johns Review - June 30, 2006 - "A fresh start for a contaminated St. Johns brownfield"
• Oregonian - Business section - June 8, 2006 - "The greening of brownfields"
• The Oregonian - Metro section - June 20, 2006 - "Cleanup under way at tainted St. Johns site"
• The Oregonian - Metro section - July 27, 2006 - "Can St. Johns brownfield bloom into art spot?"
• The Bee - July 2006 - Former drug site deeded to Southeast Uplift by U.S. Marshal service
• Communities eager to play role in redevelopment, Groundwork PDX

Weblogs

• Brownfield Investment Fund Receives $500,000
• Buried Brownfield Treasure!
• What is a Brownfield?
• Cleaning Up St John's
• Southeast Portland Blight to Bright 

Milestones

• Public Media Event - June 15, 2006 - Public media event to kickoff cleanup of St. Johns Brownfield Property. Commissioner Sam Adams was joined by the directors of the Bureau of Environmental Services and Portland Development Commission and members of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Federal Environmental Protection Agency and several community members to kickoff the cleanup of this key site in downtown St. Johns.
• Public Neighborhood meeting - November 1, 2006 - Commissioner Sam Adams hosted over 70 community members at James John Elementary School for a discussion and brainstorming session regarding the future reuse of this once contaminated property in the heart of St. Johns.
  Commissioner Sam Adams successfully secured a $500,000 brownfield investment fund to be used for cleanup of contaminated properties citywide.
• Environmental cleanup of downtown St. Johns brownfield started and was completed in the summer of 2006.
• Environmental cleanup of the County owned property at 1949 Division St. was completed in the summer of 2006.
• Work concluded on 4 properties in, 3 in progress and 4 more have applied for program participation, environmental assessments and possibly cleanup.

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