Looking west across the Albany airport on May 14. The historic 1929 hangar is at left in the distance.
The Albany city government is about to launch another one of the periodic exercises of trying to figure out if there’s a better use for the the city’s airport.
At a cost “estimated” at $113,469 — that sounds like a very precise estimate — the city has contracted with the consulting firm EcoNorthwest to conduct an “economic and fiscal analysis” of the airport.
This is part of a city project “to explore options for the future of the airport as related to the best use for the Albany community,” as the city staff put it in a memo to the council.
This is not exactly new. A story I wrote in the Democrat-Herald in 1997 was headlined: “Albany weighing future of airport.”
Before that, airport-related studies had been done in 1978, 1981, and 1996.
In response to pre-election coverage of the candidates for mayor in 1994, the late Ed Hemmingson wrote a guest column on the editorial page under the headline: “Albany airport worth keeping.”
“Every 20 years or so,” Hemmingson wrote, “some voice is heard expressing concern about the future of the airport, its potential value as developable real estate.”
Four years later, then-Mayor Chuck McLaran brought the issue up again: “The airport property has a market value in excess of $12 million due to its attractive location,” the mayor wrote in December 1998.”But the return on that investment for Albany citizens has been negligible. How could that return be improved? That is the question we should be asking the taxpaying citizens of our community.”
Albany’s current mayor, Alex Johnson II, asked the same question, more or less, three years ago. He suggested the land be used for housing.
In the 1990s, the question was resolved for a while when the council voting in 1997 to keep the airport running “for at least another 20 years.”
You may wonder why consultants are needed to help reach a conclusion that local leaders either already know or could figure out on their own.
Which is: Sure, the 80-some remaining acres of airport property could probably hold a thousand apartments or more. But what would Albany residents rather have — thousands more drivers to clog the already overloaded roads? Ever more fees to support expansion of city utilities and required services? More population for the sake of growth?
Or a harmless little general aviation airport right next to restaurants, hotels, the county fairgrounds and a big park? (hh)
Albany has always been a little upset that, FedEx selected Corvallis yrs ago. And that Corvallis has always had more traffic.
There many elements to the analysis to be considered such as the impact to access to the area since ODOT has plans to restrict movements onto the parkway at both ends.in addition what is the cost to buyout the private investments in the hangers over the past 20 years. How much will FAA claw back for their funding of onsite improvements, same for Oregon Department of Aviation. Be sure to calculate lost income from rentals and lease income. There will some relocation of existing utilities, water, sewer and storm.
An additional thought: as I recall the Airport is part of Albany’s inventory of Historic Districts. Would the City consider putting up one of the other Districts for this purpose? I doubt it!
I suppose it’s nice for a few people that Albany has an airport, however, for the vast majority of us, the airport frankly is of no use. Is the airport currently turning a profit, if not then perhaps it’s time to give it up. Whether it’s used for housing or not really doesn’t matter much as apartments and houses will be built somewhere and the demand for housing will probably still exced the supply.
The airport needs more recognition. I remember when it was a part of the Art n Air Fair. My kids became a Eagle pilot. Add it back in add the Rainbow as part of restauraunt and maybe a bar in a hanger?? Something could be done. It is used a lot.
Albany has so many housing projects going on everywhere, from North, South, East, and West… we can’t even keep up with the potential explosion of population it will cause to our schools, roadways, and communities.
Our airport is small compared to our outlying cities, but it has provided a purpose, and potential to service as a puddle jumper… look how Salem, and Corvallis are connecting to lager airports!
To let the city of Albany sell this plot of”prime real estate” to further lining their pockets is a travesty!
“To let the city of Albany sell this plot of”prime real estate” to further lining their pockets is a travesty!”
Line their pockets? Whose pockets? It’s public property owned by the Citizens of Albany.
Why is it that so many of you don’t get the fact that YOU OWN THE GOVERNMENT.
Having an airport servicing a community as small as Albany is akin to having a bicycle pathway from Albany-to-Corvallis. Both are decent enough ideas, but when balanced against common sense, both the airport and the bike lane are absurdist luxuries serving a miniscule percentage of the greater population.
While not everything can be judged only by its ROI, the Albany airport lies far beyond the outer limits of what’s important or valuable. Rather we would add the apartments per Hasso’s suggestion. The Freeway exit might require some additional infrastructure, but just imagine the economic boom another 2000 residents would bring to the City.
Let us hope that this latest round of Consultants concludes that the death knell should toll for Albany International.
“Economic boom”? All I’ve seen so far with all of this expansion is more car dealerships and Mexican food restaurants. When are we going to see something being done about our aging, crumbling infrastructure?
Right on! I totally agree.
My Uncle ran the Airport for many years 70s mainly. I grew up there. I need a visit and who knows take flying lessons. My Uncle Leroy did such for many years over at the Lebanon Airport as well. Great pilot he was.
I bet your uncle knew my uncle Vern! He worked at the airport for years!
I have seen several groups of pilots with friends arriving at the Albany Airport, then walking across I-5 into Albany to enjoy some of our amenities. They have also gone to the Fairground activities or have rented cars to visit the area. Kudos to Floyd Collins – he knows his stuff!
We were once one of America’s most beautiful cities. No more. The last thing we need is more of the ugly apartment buildings we have going up all over our city. A bunch more right along the freeway would certainly not attract people to stop in Albany.
Who picks “Consultants”? If it’s the same group that picked the software upgrade for the City Utility Bill, what could possibly go wrong?
This airport is an important part of Albany, and MUST remain no matter what. There is a large community of pilots that use this airport, and others that use it in transit. The CITY would squander the land into yet MORE housing that we DO NOT WANT AND/OR NEED ! Look at the *&%^ mess that they have made of East Albany on Knox Butte Rd. just a short jaunt down the road. There is a nightmare of townhomes jammed in making a horrendous sight and a VERY REAL TRAFFIC NIGHTMARE. All the planning for THAT mess was jammed down our throats in the name of “public comments”. So under NO circumstances let the city take control of the land for another purpose. KEEP THE AIRPORT ! GET A BUYER ! But keep that runway open for business ! Just what we need…more kids in our over populated schools that can’t do their job already !
As someone who drives in this area several times a week at different times of day I have yet to see this so-called “very real traffic nightmare.” Traffic flows quite smoothly… and the apartments are aesthetically nice and the landscaping is neat. So, not much to complain about (except losing some scenery, I’ll grant that) for now, but I suppose we’ll see what happens when the City starts expanding east and south of those townhomes.
Has there been discussion about using the airport land for manufacturing and industry, i.e., job creation? Seemingly, being directly next to I-5 would be attractive to some employers.
I’ve heard that Oregon has a scarcity of suitable industrial sites for companies that want to locate here.
We actually have a great industrial area in south Albany the Pepsi plant area off pacific near Lbcc, oh oops we sued Pepsi and got 25 million dollars , supposed to go for infrastructure, and we spent it on b s stuff, so mr mayor sell the airport for 12 million and spend it on b s stuff, our green council are very seasoned investors of tax payer monies, they’ll know what to do
One of the less mentioned arguments that came up after Alex’s suggestion to revisit the issue was that we are overdue for the expected major earthquake that is predicted to disrupt transportation as far east as Linn County. The airport could be a lifeline for delivering critical supplies like medicines to those who need them on a regular basis to survive.
It would be interesting to know how much Albany has spent on consultants in the last 20 years and whether they have ever used the information they’ve received for something worthwhile.
I remember when ODOT spent $5 million to research whether I-5 should be widened to 3 lanes from Salem to Albany when the answer was clearly it was needed and a counter could have been put across the freeway to record the traffic which would have given them all the information that their $5 million study gave them
Use freeway fronting property for housing instead of commercial?? Yeah, that seems like the best thing for tax revenue…I cant believe this people are in charge of making important decisions for the future of this town. Kotek’s finest soldiers.
It’s prime land to attract customers to a cute little restaurants and outside covered seating area. Along the freeway needs to attract paying customers. Some type of kid birthday party playground with colors and music, swings, running paths. Think about other little communities that attract business. We need something that is fun and interesting. Housing can be anywhere but next to the freeway makes no sense. I guess if you are not interested in making money then housing (boring) can bew there. When people pass by, there is nothing to see, nothing to stop for. Get a attraction there and they will come.
And butterflies & rainbows and a new exit ramp from the freeway and……
Small airports across the US have been closed down due to the local town growing around these properties. It is easy to consider development and tax base as replacements. These small airports do serve purpose, and if you encourage additional services at the airport, such as restaurants, community events, and small businesses, you can leverage the airport property and increase it’s usage and value. I routinely fly to Independence Airport because they have a great restaurant and aviation events.
A city of 55,000+ people needs an airport ROI shouldn’t be a consideration. What is the ROI on City Parks?
Well they paid consultants to evaluate the price for the very small parcels of land to sell under the over pass. What does it hurt to keep a few green spaces in the city? They could leave them open like before and just move the shelters away to clean up the area. There are areas available that do not conflict with businesses and cause traffic problems. It would be better for everyone. The city really does have better projects they could be focusing on. I have watched that area suffer since my kiddos were little. Talk about over worked and time wasted. The airport is an important feature of Albany. The city needs to recheck their priorities. It seems they always want to start a fight with people.