Agenda - 02-12-2008-2 - Laserfiche WebLink

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relative distance from most identified potential users, makes this county a low priority area for potential site development. Durham County By far the most urban part of the research area, downtown Durham has many underutilized former factory warehouse buildings that could be renovated for food processing. However, recent renovations of former tobacco handling facilities has raised real estate prices and ushered in a wave of urban residential redevelopment. Durham is home to one of the largest food bank centers for the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. The researcher met with FBCENC directors as well as Dr. Nicholas Didow of the Kenan Flagler School of Business, to discuss potential areas of collaboration between the food bank and a regional shared-use food processing center. The possibility of co-location for a new food bank center with a processing facility was discussed. However, no consensus among participants was reached. Food banks and shared use commercial processing facilities may be able to fmd common areas of interest, including shelf stabilization of donated foods through further processing, need for significant cold storage, and a desire to distribute foods to a local community. However, their missions are extremely different. Whereas a shared use food processing center strives to create jobs and income for local food based businesses, a food bank strives to efficiently deliver food to low income families and individuals who are threatened by lack of food security, Hunger, and malnourishment. The profit motive of food entrepreneurship is really not in line with the culture of food bank operations, and while mutually beneficial relationships may be established, co-location or co- management of the two is.not recommended. The Durham Food Cooperative was also contacted about potential partnerships. The manager of the co-op expressed some interest in hosting a shared use kitchen at the current co-op site. However, the building is approximately three thousand square feet on two floors and the floor plan is not suitable for large commercial kitchens and storage. The researcher detected a relatively low level of interest in this project from Durham service providers. No sites that are government or non-profit owned were identified in Durham County that could host a regional shared use food processing center. A bright area of interest in this project came from South Eastern Efforts Developing Sustainable Spaces, Inc (SEEDS), a Durham nonprofit that promotes urban community gardens in the city. SEEDS submitted a survey to use a shared use facility and may provide a valuable link to low-income communities and individuals in Durham. Chapel HilUCarrboro The southern half of Orange County is economically centered on Chapel Hill, home to IJNC-Chapel Hill, and Carrboro, a former mill village adjacent to Chapel Hill. While several positive factors are associated with this area, including a strong local foods movement, the flagship store of Weaver Street Markets, and the Carrboro Farmers Market, this area has some of the highest real estate demands anywhere in the four- 39