Address: 7910 NE 33rd Drive
Date of site approval: 2014
Acreage: 2.85
Zoning: industrial

An industrial lot and former site of an old horse barn, this property is currently owned by the Oregon Food Bank (OFB), a non-profit working with a statewide network of partner agencies to distribute emergency food to hungry families and strengthen community food systems.  After learning that the old horse barn had used lead paint, OFB requested technical and financial assistance from the Portland Brownfield Program to ensure the land was safe for food production.  The Brownfield Program was able to fund both a Phase I and Phase II assessment.

During the Phase II assessment, volunteers with OFB had the opportunity to assist our environmental specialists with soil sampling.  AMEC Environmental Inc., the contractor for the Phase II, led the volunteers through a soil sampling training, allowing each participant to try their hand at the auger, the PID reader, and packing soil for transport to the lab.

The results of the Phase II revealed clean soil on the property and the site was ready to go. In the spring of 2015, Oregon Food Bank worked with Grow Portland (another local hunger relief non-profit) to plant the new community farm and put the space into vegetable production. Volunteers and community members will be actively involved on this site and produce will be used in OFB’s cooking classes, donated through the emergency food system, or distributed to volunteers.