MCIC breaks ground for long-awaited urban agriculture sites at Savocchio Park

A former brownfield site on Erie's east side will soon be home to a new urban agriculture facility and community greenhouse, a project expected to be up and running by early 2024 and poised to revitalize one of the city's poorest neighborhoods.

The Minority Community Investment Coalition on Thursday broke ground at the Joyce A. Savocchio Opportunity Park, located at the intersection of East 16th Street and Downing Avenue.

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The project, broadly referred to as Grow Erie — a public-private collaboration of MCIC, the Erie County Redevelopment Authority and a Harrisburg-based sustainable agriculture company called Integrated Agriculture Systems, or INTAG — marks the end of a 15-year effort to transform the once vacant lot into a vital economic driver.

It also marks an opportunity to rebuild communities on Erie's east side, said Gary Horton, MCIC co-founder and executive director of the Urban Erie Community Development Corporation.

"Individuals living on Erie's east side have not always been afforded the same opportunities as residents of other parts of the city, and for more than 60 years we have worked to rewrite that narrative," Horton said. "Grow Erie invests in our neighborhoods, provides employment opportunities and brings locally-grown food to a food desert — impacting 20,000 residents in need."

What are the new facilities?

Grow Erie will consist of two distinct facilities: a commercial aquaponics facility and a community greenhouse.

The commercial facility is expected to contain more than 17,000 square feet of all-season, high-tech greenhouses where fish and plants will be integrated. That process, known as aquaponics, is a combination of aquaculture, or the breeding and harvesting of fish, and hydroponics, the growing of plants in a soil-free environment.

Paul Nickerson, vice president and co-founder of INTAG, said the facility intends to recycle fish waste into natural growth nutrients for plant life cultivation, a process that will not require chemical, salt-based fertilizers.

The facility will also allow for the production of marketable fish and other types of produce. A notable customer will be Curtze Food Services, a wholesale food distributor located near the park.

B. Scott Kern, vice president and general counsel of C.A. Curtze Co., has said Grow Erie will allow his company to locally source products that are now being purchased from California and Mexico.

"Having a local supplier for some of these items will eliminate transportation costs and supply-chain challenges," he said earlier to Erie County Council. "Ultimately, it results in fresher goods for our customers."

The facility is projected to provide more than 20 direct and indirect jobs to neighborhood residents, according to MCIC.

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The other building, a community greenhouse, will be a 2,500-square-foot polycarbonate facility open to residents. The climate-controlled greenhouse will allow for year-round crop production.

Tina Mengine, CEO of the Redevelopment Authority, said construction of both facilities could begin as early as fall and be finished by early next year.

Mengine said the project could generate at least 50 jobs once fully realized, with later phases including a commercial kitchen incubator and a co-packing facility.

'A consequential step in the right direction'

Thursday's ceremony brought dozens of attendees to the park, including Mayor Joe Schember and representatives from supporting organizations like Diverse Erie, the Erie Community Foundation and the House of Mercy.

Also present was former Erie Mayor Joyce Savocchio, for whom the park is named.

Savocchio, a Democrat, was Erie's first woman mayor, serving from 1990 through 2001. Her administration set in motion the initiatives that led to the creation of the park.

"I feel very privileged to be here at this site to witness this remarkable revitalization project coming to life," she said. "I have a strong passion for bettering the Erie community, and Grow Erie is a consequential step in the right direction to equitably lift up our east Erie neighborhoods, reverse blight and fight food insecurities."

Grow Erie is included in Erie's Investment Playbook, a plan devised by urban policy experts Bruce Katz and Florian Schalliol of New Localism Associates of Arlington, Virginia, which helps municipalities craft growth strategies and find innovative ways to fund community development.

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Kim Thomas, executive director of Infinite Erie, which devises strategies for those investments, said Grow Erie is a "key project" that will work to transform the east Erie neighborhood.

"(Grow Erie is) exactly what the playbook was intended for," she said.

To date, $1.8 million has been secured for Grow Erie, to include funds from the city of Erie, the county's portion of American Rescue Plan money, Diverse Erie, the Erie Community Foundation and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

County Executive Davis, critic of investing in project, attends event

Attending the event as a spectator — he did not make any remarks — was Erie County Executive Brenton Davis, who has previously criticized the park's agriculture plans as a "speculative investment" for county dollars and summed up the project as a "fish farm."

Davis issued a veto in December that stopped $750,000 in county ARP funds from going toward the park, arguing the park's projects would not yield many jobs and that ARP funds were of better use elsewhere.

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"What does this tell residents of this community that the best we can offer you is menial jobs attending fish tanks and farming crops from barrels?" he said in a Dec. 14 video posted on his campaign Facebook page.

In a new Facebook post Thursday, Davis highlighted county investments in the project from the Redevelopment Authority and Diverse Erie, adding "We wish this venture the best and await seeing the positive community impacts around urban farming/fish production."

A.J. Rao can be reached at arao@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNRao.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie's east side to get urban agriculture sites at Savocchio Park