A BottleDrop meeting organized by State Representative Travis Nelson was held in late June. Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative (OBRC) representatives were present along with St. Johns Neighborhood Association chair, RJ DeMello, member Kim Larson, and Mike Vial, a community leader. Also present was State Rep. Maxine Dexter and her staff, and City Commissioner Carmen Rubio’s Chief of Staff.
Commissioner Rubio’s staff offered OBRC as many as 24 sites to consider as alternatives to the former Dollar Tree site at 7740 N. Lombard. OBRC declined to accept any of the sites. At a July 8, neighborhood meeting DeMello recalled, the sites “didn’t check every box, and it seems they are looking for every box to be checked.” Among other things, OBRC reportedly felt the alternative sites were not convenient to bottle redeemers. DeMello added, “What they were curious about was if there was a way they could make the Lombard location work. They were hoping to put together a Good Neighbor Agreement with very specific clauses and some actual way to be enforced.”
The response from others at the meeting was “no”. “There is no way to make that location work. We listed all the reasons we gave in our letter,” noted DeMello. The SJNA letter cited public safety and traffic concerns with large trucks entering and exiting the property as children walk to school. “The use of that area would essentially become a large parking lot,” he added.
It was clear at the June meeting that there would be no public support for OBRC going forward with the N. Lombard site. Carmen Rubio’s staff will ontinue to look for other for-sale properties that might fit. The North Peninsula Review checked with Rubio’s staff and as of July 26, there were no updates.
According to DeMello the paths forward for OBRC are:
“• Accept a new alternative location that checks enough boxes
• Go with one of the alternative locations even though it doesn’t check every box
• Try to go forward with the N. Lombard site and see if the city will move it forward through the Bureau of Development Services, and on to OLCC (Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission). That’s when there would be a 30-day comment period.”
DeMello sees one other overlooked option: “They don’t actually need to have a redemption center. It’s not a requirement although it’s been positioned to appear like they must have one somewhere.”
Without a BottleDrop redemption center, the retail establishments would be required to accept up to 120 bottles and cans per individual per day. “It would be back on the retailers to manage the Bottle Bill. So the three alternatives are not the only ones in this discussion.”