Agricultural Innovation Center
RIVERSIDE (CNS) – Officials from the city of Riverside will join residents of the Northside neighborhood and others next week to celebrate the start of construction on an agricultural facility intended to highlight the positives of using green technology to grow food.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the Northside Agriculture Innovation Center is slated for 9:30 a.m. next Thursday at 900 Clark St.
“Riverside has a deep agricultural history as the birthplace of the citrus industry,” Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson said. “The NAIC is an opportunity to show the same level of leadership on ag issues into the coming century.”
The center will be constructed in space long impacted by blight and will serve as both an educational facility and community garden, according to officials.
“Northside residents have played a key role in developing the NAIC from concept into reality,” City Councilman Philip Falcone said. “We are grateful for their input as we take an important step forward with this project.”
The city received about $4 million in state and federal grants over the last four years to pay for the project.
The Phase 1 plan calls for installation of 50,000 square feet of solar photovoltaic greenhouses, 14,000 square feet of agri-voltaics, 14,000 square feet dedicated for a “solar PV pole barn,” a 30-plot community garden, outdoor farmer training grounds, trails, 450 trees and standard utility feeds to meet water infrastructure needs.
The goal is to create “a beacon of recreation, innovation and education, and bring people together through a variety of programmed spaces, including a community garden, learning center and new farmer incubation facilities,” according to a municipal statement.
Phase 2, for which no date has been set due to delayed funding, will entail building an enclosure for the PV pole barn, which will include “classrooms, offices, demonstration kitchen and a farm stand,” the city stated.
Additionally, there will be street improvements and completion of the trails system in the final phase.
More information is available at riversideca.gov/sustainability/northside-agriculture-innovation-center-naic.
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