Home Depot plans to build a 132,000-sf home improvement store and garden center on 16.5 acres of the former landfill. The big-box retailer is still several months away from securing building permits, but it estimates the store will open next year.

The test pilings, requested by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, are the work of landfill owner Jack Parker. Parker plans to develop gas extraction systems underneath any future buildings that would suck out harmful landfill gases and pull in fresh air when elevated levels of methane gas are detected.

Oregon DEQ was initially skeptical about permanent development of the landfill, but between Home Depot's landfill experience--it has built several stores on former landfills across the U.S.--and Parker's extraction system, project approval seems likely. The store will be located northwest of the Trails End Golf Center, a private driving range that opened last year on a 20-acre chunk of the former landfill.