This site prompted a reader’s question on Sunday. I looked at it Monday.
On an empty lot southeast of the Queen and Geary intersection in Albany, between Mega Storage and the Periwinkle Creek Apartments, somebody seems to have started an improvised dump.
A reader wondered about it and wrote: “Did the City of Albany approve this? Even if this is connected to new construction in the area, other people are dumping mattresses etc. there also. Real eyesore.”
No, the city didn’t approve that dump. What the city did approve, early in 2023, was a series of land use actions regarding the 4.8-acre tract that included the fomer Mega Foods store, which has since been converted to Mega Storage, at 2000 Queen Ave. S.E.
The parcel was divided, with the Mega building and parking lot taking up the northern section on Queen. On the southern section, which includes the spot where trash has piled up, the city approved a site plan calling for two three-story apartment buildings.
No apartments have yet been built there, obviously. But on behalf of the owners, a Salem architect applied for building permits in September 2024. The permits remain pending, according to the the building division of the Albany Community Development Department.
Building 1 will have 20 units: two studios, four one-bedrooms, and 14 two-bedrooms. Building 2 will have 18 units with two bedrooms each.
Mega Investments LLC owns the site. It bought the former supermarket property for $2.5 million in 2021. State corporation records list the principals in the company as Sona Athwal of Albany, and Bharwinder Singh and Lal Din Sidhu, both of Salem.
The pile of refuse on the site presumably will disappear when construction of the apartments starts. (hh)
In the distance, you can just see the Periwinkle Creek Apartments.
Wow. That could turn into a pretty big, rat infested pile of trash before any building starts.
Doesn’t the City pay a code enforcement person? If so, why?
I agree, it might well save the city money in the long run or even short term.
in the pic, i see what appears to be a mattress. and some misc. trash. do we consider the black plastic as trash? the black plastic adds a lotta drama to the pic. my guess it covers construction debris. im seeing a mess, but im not seeing a dump.
everything i see in the pics other than the mattress and misc. trash looks like fill to build apartments on.
Clearly a public nuisance, subject to a fine (with 30% added for overhead).
Albany Municipal Code
8.01.020 Debris, garbage, and junk.
This kind of behavior easily gets out of hand and people who are wishing to avoid responsibility for their trash love to do this.
In the Bay Area in California, it soon took over blocks and blocks of public roads.
Really sad to see people dumping mattresses, especially since it is free to recycle them in Oregon now. We even have a drop-off location here in Albany. But that would require people to look up that info, and I guess that’s too much to ask of some people.
im trying to imagine dump trucks dumping concrete debris, gravel, dirt, etc., there without approval. i cant count the loads i see there. can anyone imagine the laws broken, and violations a company would face doing that. that would take some guts to dump a load there without approval. thats fill to build apartments on located next to a creek. someone needs to straighten this story out.
It’s probably a swale designed by the City.
Not surprising at all, Law enforcement in Albany is selective at best, Is this illegal?, Sure,
Will the City do anything about it?, Most likely not. This is not uncommon. This attitude of the government and the citizens of Albany has been in practice for years. A lot good people live and work here, But our city government has let us down again and again. This is not about political parties. It’s about people who want to do as little as possible at there job. Look at the Water treatment plant, which does not work as it should, The city trucks the solid waste to the local landfill, millions wasted,which could used to solve the issue, OK, CH2M Hill didn’t do a good job, you have to sue them. But the city will not address the problem, because of the law suit. I know for a fact that we have here in the area 100’s
people who could fix this in a manner of weeks. Engineers,Fabricators,Mechanics and so on. This will not change until we the rest us who live and work demand the City of Albany
do its job and try to fix these issues.
Hasso Hering, are you mentoring anyone to join you in this level of local reporting? The topics that you cover and the insights that you provide are of great value.
I am hoping that this reporting can continue far into the future.
those piles resemble street sweeper loads. i am now pointing my finger at the city of albany being responsible for most of that entire mess.
Blaming somebody without knowing who left that material? Come on …
the location needs fill. the city is aware of that, and dumps fill there. saving the city money to go get rid of it elsewhere. it might even increase the value of that land. im betting a cold soda on it. and im attaching my name to it. i like solving problems and issues. david j pulver