HASSO HERING

A perspective from Oregon’s mid-Willamette Valley

NA market: City permit pending

Written August 1st, 2017 by Hasso Hering

Equipment stored in the future grocery store looks like it’s awaiting some action.

The latest holdup in plans for a new supermarket and hardware store in North Albany seems to involve the city building permit. It’s been applied for but not yet approved.

According to the Albany building division’s website, an application for a building permit was received from Novak Architecture in Portland on June  28. It was for the renovation of the former Ray’s store in the North Albany Village shopping center for a new operator, the Myers Group based in Washington state. (For the background on all this, see previous stories here and here.)

The city valued the prospective renovations at $300,000 and collected a fee of $1,184.95. A note on the city’s online file says the applicant would also need to have a site plan reviewed and approved. No site plan has been filed.

When I asked about this last week, I was told the site plan would be needed only when the store operator started an outdoor garden center, and its lack so far was not holding up the building permit. But since the garden center has been part of the plan, presumably the site plan review will have to take place if the city insists.

What about the building permit for the remodeling? Building Inspector Joel Heenan told me by email on Tuesday the plans had been sent back to the applicant on July 18 “for corrections regarding the means of egress system in the new office area and other minor mechanical and refrigeration clarifications.” (I didn’t ask what an “egress system” was. Presumably an exit door.)

As of Tuesday, Heenan had not heard back from the applicant. “I’ll be getting in contact with them later this week if I still haven’t heard anything,” he wrote.

Since this is August and the remodeling has yet to start, it seems unlikely that the new market can open in September, which was the most recent target date. As for an updated target date for the opening, my contact at the Myers Group has not given me a response. (hh)

 





5 responses to “NA market: City permit pending”

  1. Tony White says:

    Of course it hasn’t been approved yet. Not enough city bureaucrats have had the opportunity to demonstrate their need to the community through the review process. City blessing will continue to pend until all demigods have been placated.

    • Gothic Albany says:

      Stupid bureaucrats and their “egress systems”. Why can’t people just die in fires like the good old days? If the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire taught us anything, it is that bureaucrats are always interested in human lives and well-being, and not focused on the stuff that really matters: helping to lower the overhead of corporate overlords!

  2. John Hartman says:

    Sounds like the Decision-Makers at the illustrious Myers Group have been asleep at the wheel. As it stands now, City building codes and the permitting process are so simple, any moron can run the gauntlet. This ain’t rocket science.

    Secondly, there is nothing sacrosanct about a September opening. In the grand scheme of things another grocery store is just that.

  3. hj.anony1 says:

    An outdoor garden center?

    This could come in super handy spring ’18!

    Nice!!

  4. Claudia Painter says:

    I’m ready for a supermarket, so Myers and City get going please!

 

 
HH Today: A perspective from Oregon’s mid-Willamette Valley
Albany Albany City Council Albany council Albany downtown Albany Fire Department Albany housing Albany parks Albany Planning Commission Albany police Albany Post Office Albany Public Works Albany riverfront Albany schools Albany Station Albany streets Albany traffic Albany urban renewal apartments ARA Benton County bicycling bike lanes Bowman Park Bryant Park Calapooia River CARA climate change COVID-19 Cox Creek Cox Creek path Crocker Lane cumberland church cycling Dave Clark Path DEQ downtown Albany Edgewater Village Highway 20 homeless housing Interstate 5 land use Linn County Millersburg Monteith Riverpark North Albany ODOT Oregon coast Oregon legislature Pacific Power Portland & Western Queen Avenue Republic Services Riverside Drive Santiam Canal Scott Lepman Talking Water Gardens The Banks Tom Cordier Union Pacific urban renewal Water Avenue Waterfront Project Waverly Lake Willamette River


Copyright 2022. All Rights Reserved. Hasso Hering.
Website Serviced by Santiam Communications
Hasso Hering