xvEPA
United States
Environmental Protection)
Agency
ELIZABETH CARUTHERS PARK
EPA 560-F-12-013
April 2012
Portland, OR
Cleanup Grant
Pioneering Vision Sees Portland's Newest, Greenest Neighborhood
Rising from an Industrial Wasteland
ADDRESS: 3508 SW Moody Avenue, Portland, Oregon, 97239
PROPERTY SIZE: 2.0 acres
FORMER USES: Mini-storage facility, machine shop, overhead door manufacturing
CURRENT USE: Elizabeth Caruthers Neighborhood Park
EPA GRANT RECIPIENT:
PROJECT PARTNERS:
The Portland Development
Commission (PDC) received
a $200,000 EPA Brownfields
Cleanup grant in 2006
City of Portland Department of Parks and Recreation, Portland
Bureau of Planning, Portland Bureau of Environmental
Services, Portland Office of Transportation, EPA Region 10,
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ)
PROJECT BACKGROUND:
Elizabeth Caruthers park officially opened
in August 2010.
For decades, Portland's south waterfront area was Oregon's oldest and largest industrial and maritime center, and made great
contributions to the region's economic growth and shipping heritage. The area encompasses 409 acres along the Willamette River, just
south of downtown Portland. It previously housed ship building, repair and salvage activities, and associated industrial and manufacturing
businesses, including a 2-acre parcel that was used for a machine shop, a place to manufacture overhead doors, and a mini-storage
facility. As the economy began shifting in the 1970s, operations at many of the legacy companies shut down. During the 1980s and
1990s, the area devolved into a blighted, industrial wasteland and became disconnected from the city center. The city began a visioning
process in 1997 to reclaim this precious waterfront area for productive use and environmental restoration. Environmental assessment
and cleanup was a critical part of the plan as the hundreds of land parcels had real or perceived contamination. EPA helped fund a Phase
I area-wide assessment in 2003, a Phase II assessment of the 2-acre future park land which was completed in 2004, and cleanup of the
2-acre parcel which was completed in 2006. Oregon DEQ issued a No Further Action determination in 2007.
KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
• An area-wide revitalization plan for the entire south waterfront area was adopted in 2003.
• Through a condemnation proceeding, Portland Development Commission (PDC) obtained ownership of the 2-acre parcel of land
for the new park in September 2005. Operations as a public storage facility ceased in December 2005.
• The $350,000 ($200,000 from EPA and $ I 50,000 from PDC) cleanup of the land for the park was completed in June 2006. Cleanup
included: deconstruction and demolition of the existing structures, removal of two underground storage tanks, removal of a railroad
spur, and removal of approximately 1,250 tons of contaminated soil; it provided approximately 7,500 cubic yards of clean soil for
surface grading.
• The project leveraged 10 jobs for cleanup and 39 jobs for park construction activities.
• The project leveraged approximately $3.95 million in additional public funding to support cleanup activities beyond the EPA grant
and to acquire the land and redevelop it into the park.
OUTCOME:
The 2-acre Elizabeth Caruthers Park is a civic focal point for one of the newest, densest and greenest urban neighborhoods in the
country. The park, named after an early Portland pioneer woman, pays homage to Portland's history with a memorial to the first cabin
built in the city and continues Portland's sustainable development legacy. The park includes active urban gardens, a flexible open lawn
area with sloped seating, and a naturalized landscape area that treats stormwater runoff. It offers open greenspace, walking paths
and bocce ball courts, and entertainment and public art displays for the workers and residents filling the new neighborhood. The
surrounding 35-acre South Waterfront central renewal district is going through the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
(LEED) Neighborhood Development certification process. The renewal district also has been certified as Salmon-Safe, contains the first
LEED platinum medical building, and has the most LEED certified residential towers of any neighborhood in the nation. The formerly
disconnected, blighted wasteland now has many transportation options to link with other parts of the community, including an aerial
tram to Oregon Health Sciences University and streetcars and trolleys to downtown Portland.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Visit the EPA Brownfields website at www.epa.gov/Region 10/brownfields/ or call EPA Region 10 at (206) 553-1200
For additional data and geographic information for this and other Brownfields Grants, please visit EPA's Cleanups in My Community - http://iaspub.epa.gov/Cleanups/
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