HASSO HERING

About 75 acres of undeveloped land surrounding Albany’s Timber Ridge School is about to come into city ownership because the owners have made no payments on assessments for the street and utility lines there. Now it’s just a question of how the transaction is done, the city council was told.

The land has been owned by the Brandis family of Corvallis. The city formed a local assessment district to build Timber Ridge Street and assessed property owners — the Brandis family and the school district — for the cost. The school district paid its assessment, but on two parcels north of Knox Butte Road, the family did not and is now in default.

The family trust did pay $15,000 toward its assessment on another 24 acres south of Knox Butte Road. Now it has offered to deed the city the northern parcels, saving the city the trouble of foreclosure, in return for a $120,000 credit against its assessment on the south 24 acres.

The council didn’t much like that and agreed to make a counter offer: Deed us the north portion and we’ll give you two additional years to become current on payments of the assessment on the south parcel, which otherwise would be in default if no payments are made by August.

The city used Pepsi settlement money to fund the street, water and sewer lines. Whether it gets the money back, by selling the land once the housing market has fully recovered, we’ll have to wait the see. (hh)