Portland City Regulations

Hey Guys Im currently looking at leasing an industrial space in Portland City to set up an Ethanol hemp extraction facility. The one major blind spot with this idea is dealing with the city. The two people I know that run facilities in Oregon (Salem and Medford) both said they have had issues with city/fire department pertaining to storage and extraction of ethanol.
If anyone has any experience with Portland or Gresham, I would greatly appreciate your input.

thanks

There is a cannabis specific section (section 38) of the 2018 NPFA rules. Getting that under your belt will help.

Hiring the right consultant (architect/engineer/industrial hygienist) is fairly important for making this go smoothly.

Trying to muddle your own way through is asking for delays, surprises, and disappointment.

Those delays look to have killed a lot of operations in OR. I’m guessing the phenomenon is similar in other jurisdictions.

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This is exactly what I’m trying to avoid, the city offers such small amount of information via phone. Do you suggest anyone from the city to specifically talk to, such as a person from fire who actually does these inspections. I don’t even know what person / position to ask for when I call.

Get in touch with the Fire Marshall or the Authority Having Jurisdiction. They should be able to assist you in some way on moving forward.

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I’d try contacting https://future4200.com/t/carla-kay-aka-eloquentsolution/1123

Last I talked to Carla this was one of the services she was looking to provide.

There should also be others, & @future may be able to point you at a couple

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I would personally recommend setting up outside of Multnomah county and city of Portland. Anywhere else in Oregon will by much easier and cheaper

Might have to give Carla a call because looking at the outline of extraction facility in NFPA guidelines is unrealistic. Every facility I’ve been to does not follow the outlined spacing requirements. 100 feet between the extraction area and unloading bay and other public areas or thoroughfares is not what we see in real world licensed facilities.

Hey Rasputin do you have any personal experience with Multnomah county or Portland in regards to processing. I know of some people doing CO2 in portland and there are many people licensed in those areas to process so im assuming its possible. Unfortunately I can’t be to far from that area.

When I licensed up, the first thing I did was introduce myself to the fire marshal. He actually came out to my facility and told me everything he wanted to see. It was a great starting point for me.

Then, you will need to dig into the details of what he says actually means on paper. I can tell you that I wish I hired someone who knew exactly what I needed. But what I can tell you, is that each city building department is different. And what flies in one city, may not in the other.

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Thanks for the recommendation levitated. I think I’m going to go to a few counties fire marshal’s in the next couple weeks and see what their preferred buildings/areas and expectations are.

Do you mind saying which county you are in ? Curious who’s more friendly

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I am in the city of Seattle.

I have gotten a CO2 facility up and running in Multnomah County. It’s a bear, but doable. Ethanol will be much tougher depending on how big you want to go…

I thought I would give an up date on my progress in the hopes it might help others.

After a couple weeks of networking and talking to professionals in the industry I have been repeatedly told the best counties to work with are:

  1. Washington
  2. Clackamus
  3. Lane
  4. Jackson

Ive been told to avoid:

  1. Multnomah
  2. Marion
  3. Deschutes
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