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Published on CommissionerSam.com (http://www.commissionersam.com)

Brownfields to Cleanfields

By Vicki Grudzinski
Created Dec 13 2006 - 9:33am

Getting Contaminated Land Back into the Community

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

Brownsfield

Environmental Cleanup Fund
During 2006, the Portland Brownfield Program
[0] 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 [1] continued its administration of EPA Brownfield Assessment Grants [2] 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 [3] and the Portland Community Land Trust [4] for a mixed use and mixed income development.

Downtown St. Johns Brownfield Revitalization
For the first time, the City of Portland Brownfield Program [5] 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 [6] 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 [7] is a partner and steering committee member on a local community based collaborative that successfully secured a grant from the National Parks Service [8] and Groundwork USA [9] 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.

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Source URL:
http://www.commissionersam.com/node/1893