North Plains has been selected for a $1 million federal grant to cleanup its Glencoe Opportunity Area. (Jaime Valdez/Hillsboro News-Times)

North Plains could soon advance long-held plans to redevelop a 5-acre site that would bring the city its only grocery store.

Nearly $1 million in federal cleanup funding is within reach — though the pieces are still falling into place.

The city is one of eight in Oregon selected for a 2025 brownfield grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. If awarded, the funding would support the cleanup of the Glencoe Opportunity Area, located less than half a mile north of Highway 26.

According to City Manager Bill Reid, the grant funds target the removal and disposal of up to 12 inches of topsoil found to contain low levels of residual pesticides and metals. The contamination likely stems from the site’s former use as an apple orchard, when chemicals like DDT were commonly applied.

“At this point it’s been so long, there’s just barely enough trace metals for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to consider it not ‘clean fill dirt,’ but the amount over is tiny,” Reid said. “So what I want to say is that if a kid was out on the property playing with Tonka trucks and digging in the dirt and playing and making a mess, they’re at no risk of having any problem.”

More work to be done

While the federal grant would remove an environmental hurdle, it won’t cover all the work needed to prepare the site for development.

The city’s urban renewal agency acquired the land in 2021 with the long-term goal of establishing a grocery store-anchored retail and dining hub. But beyond contaminated soil, the site includes structures that must be demolished or relocated — work not covered by the EPA grant.

“The EPA funding has a very specific scope of what the money can be used for … It’s for soil removal and disposal,” Reid explained. “But we have structures on site that need to be bulldozed; we have a structure that would actually be really nice to take apart and pack it up and maybe reassemble it on the property at a later time.”

The city had also pursued $1 million through the Oregon Legislature’s lottery bonds allocation to cover what the federal funding could not, but that bid fell short, Reid said.

And while North Plains was selected for the federal grant, the funding has not yet been finalized. Reid noted that under President Donald Trump’s administration, which has withheld and rescinded federal funding from agencies and institutions, even awarded grants aren’t necessarily guaranteed.

“We’ve been selected for a grant, but now there’s still a final process where we have to submit documents and additional information,” Reid explained. “I can’t say that I’ve seen other EPA grants get rescinded yet, but it just seems a bit chaotic right now, and I’m not comfortable counting my chickens before they hatch.”

Reid said the majority of work would take place next summer if all goes as planned, with the city moving forward with the grant process and awaiting confirmation of the funding.

Growth questions add development uncertainty

Environmental cleanup isn’t the only factor contributing to delays. Rising construction costs and lingering questions surrounding the city’s growth — particularly following the 2024 rejection of an 855-acre urban growth boundary expansion — may be affecting developer interest, Reid suggested.

“The developer that was working with us before is still generally interested,” Reid said. “But when businesses invest, they want to sell … but they also want to invest where they can see growth in revenue and profits over time. And I think the timing of them kind of stepping back does line up with the timing of the (urban growth boundary) issue.”

The city is now eyeing funding through the state’s Business Oregon Brownfield Cleanup Fund as a possible way to close the remaining gap in cleanup and preparation costs.

“We’re still dedicated to the idea and working toward it despite a very big cost obstacle that we have,” Reid said. “Our goal still is to redevelop that property and make the most of it.”