About the Project

Project Purpose

The Vance site is an opportunity to transform nearly 90 acres of county-owned land in a neighborhood that’s been historically underserved. The site’s past uses as a quarry and municipal landfill left legacy issues that the surrounding community lives with today. The County now has a unique opportunity to work toward a future for Vance that meets both community and County needs.

What’s Happening?

The county’s Vance Property is one of the largest undeveloped areas in East County.  It is located along 182nd and 190th Avenues in the Rockwood and Centennial neighborhoods of Gresham.  In about 90 acres, it includes Vance Park, the Vance Pit Quarry, and yards and buildings used by the county’s Transportation Division.

We are making plans for the future of this site. We must ensure that some of it will remain available to be used by Transportation and other county agencies for years to come. Some of it will continue to be used as a park. But we also want to use it to provide other benefits to the community.

What’s Been Done

We’ve put together a team within the county, and hired a planning consultant to help guide the process. We had already participated in two outreach projects, and we are building on their work to make sure we are hearing the diverse range of voices within the community. 

• We worked with the Rockwood Community Development Corporation to put on a Vision to Action project. This allowed local residents to weigh in on the future of the site.

• We completed the Environmental Protection Agency’s Making a Visible Difference (MVD) process. This helps ensure equity in planning.

• In March 2022 the project team shared the Vance Vision Plan with the public.  The Board of County Commissioners was briefed on the plan on March 15, 2022.

Get Involved

We will want to hear your ideas about what this property can become. This will be a multi-year process, and we want to engage the community every step of the way.

Contact us to sign up for updates, and to find out more about how to get involved in the future.

Partners

We are working with these partners: 

• City of Gresham

• Metro

• Oregon Department of Environmental Quality

• Rockwood Neighborhood Association

• Centennial Community Association

• Governor's Regional Solutions Team

• Gresham Redevelopment Commission

Project Principles

• Accommodate known and future county facility needs. 
• Center the needs of the people most impacted by the past and current uses. 
• Create a more equitable future for one of the most racially and ethnically diverse neighborhoods in the region. 
• Support the county’s mission as a public health agency through investments in the built environment that positively impact the social determinants of health for people in the surrounding neighborhoods.
• Sustainably support the long-term environmental and economic well being of the community.

The Vance Vision is grounded in Multnomah County values. It seeks to address past wrongs through centering the needs of the people most impacted, investing in environmental justice, and reinvigorating land cut off from the surrounding neighborhoods by past extractive uses. The Vance Vision is a guide and roadmap for future development that is equitable, community driven, and groundbreaking for Multnomah County.