Residents of Argai Terrace and Parkrose are bringing science to the fight more than freight storage

Residents of the Argai Terrace and Parkrose neighborhoods are not providing up in their fight to avoid the wealthy owner of the Minnesota Vikings from constructing a 260,000-square-foot freight warehouse on portion of the home he owns in their East Portland neighborhood.

Residents of the Parkrose Argai Chance Coalition say they are functioning with Argos Scientific to collect air high quality information and figure out no matter whether they must file an “environmental justice complaint” with the Environmental Protection Agency.

Vikings owner Zygmunt Wilf plans to construct a concrete warehouse on a slope at the web site of a massive, vacant Kmart on Northeast Sandy Boulevard at 122nd Avenue and lease it to Prologis, a San Francisco-primarily based firm that supplies goods to Amazon, Dwelling Depot and other people.

“Argos Scientific manufactures hugely sensitive air high quality gear and installs neighborhood monitors,” the coalition stated in a statement. “They will model the impacts that diesel truck pollution from these sorts of warehouses will bring to a portion of Portland that currently experiences disproportionate amounts of pollution and visitors.”

Wilf’s lot is across the street from Parkrose Higher College and subsequent to a low-earnings housing complicated known as Hidden Oaks Apartments. The cargo warehouse would be the newest of quite a few in the region. The rest, nonetheless, are north of Peščani Boulevard. This one particular would project towards the south into a predominantly residential region.

The web site gained notoriety in August 2021 soon after Proud Boys gathered at a far-suitable festival that turned into a paintball and baseball brawl with anti-fascists.

Wilf produced his fortune in true estate soon after taking more than his father’s apartment constructing firm Garden Residences. Wilf has owned the Kmart home beneath numerous entities considering the fact that the 1980s.

“The coalition would like to see the home owner, Garden Residences, operate with the neighborhood to uncover a greater use for the former Kmart,” coalition member Angela Baker stated in a statement. “Neighborhood members have expressed interest in a grocery retailer, added housing and restaurants, and Parkrose Schools are interested in applying the web site as a STEM center.”

Neither Garden Dwelling nor Prologis instantly returned an e mail searching for comment.

The Portland Bureau of Improvement Solutions stated its 2022 statement nonetheless stands:

“At this time, the Workplace of Improvement Solutions and other city offices are reviewing the permit application.” This application proposes a ‘new tilting concrete semi-heated warehouse constructing with one particular workplace tenancy’ and ‘associated web site work’.’