Albany city plannerAnne Catlin talks to the people who showed up Tuesday to learn more about “climate friendly areas.”
Seven Albany neighborhoods are candidates for designation as “climate friendly areas” or CFAs, where zoning and development rules may be changed to allow more people to live there and a variety of business services to open up.
The state Department of Land Conservation and Development has ordered Albany, Corvallis and six other urban areas in Oregon to designate such places and change their local regulations as necessary by the end of 2024.
About 30 people showed up at City Hall Tuesday night to learn more about this. Some of them had questions, but I couldn’t hear them.
More public meetings are planned before Albany declares its CFAs and adopts the requisite code changes.
The neighborhoods identified so far as CFA candidates are shown on this map:
To learn more about the details, such as the capacity for how many dwelling units in each one of the areas, check out this page on the city website.
As I’ve written before, the whole thing strikes me as a complicated and time-consuming exercise in state-imposed regulation that won’t have much effect on the ground, and if it does, it won’t reduce gloal warming in any way.
At Tuesday’s meeting, others I talked to were optimistic. Albany Councilwoman Jackie Montague, for one, thinks this is a step in the right direction. She thinks the effect may be small at first, but you have to start somewhere, if I understood her correctly.
The apparent goal of the state mandate is to have cities create places where people can live closer together and need to drive less. In principle, that’s not a bad idea for people who want to live that way.
The question is whether the state’s approach is necessary to bring about this change, or whether, given enough time, changes in the economy and consumers’ evolving preferences would be enough. (hh)
Organizers set aside a table with things to keep kids busy, but no one brought any kids.
Heritage Mall certainly needs “climatizing”. Where does the stupidity stop?
Similar to the gentrification CARA wants in downtown Albany, this “climate friendly” policy may result in ecological gentrification, i.e. government enabling upper income folks to displace lower income folks from the “green” downtown area.
So the real questions need to be addressed – who benefits and at what cost?
If the “climate friendly” policy attracts more affluent residents with much larger carbon footprints because of their consumption, will state government be okay with that contradiction?
Or, will state government take the next step and dictate that only lower income and homeless people will live in certain types of housing in “green” areas?
Will CARA lovers be okay with this in the gentrified downtown area they so desperately want?
With apartment living being the affordable alternative for the younger generations of Oregonians, this plan makes a lot of sense.
It’s happening already anyway. Developers can build apartment buildings with street level shops.
I agree with Hasso, not likely much will change from this and it’s mostly window dressing for the idea that climate change can be averted by micro measures.
With grocery stores so far from where folks live there is no choice but to drive. Bus service on a regular, frequent schedule is non existent. Banks, medical and dental offices are not close for most walkers.
These issues must be resolved if you really want climate friendly areas
Isn’t this a Biden mandate that all states have to follow?
No, it stems from Governor Brown’s executive order that state agencies must do whatever they can to help Oregon get rid of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or so.
Honestly asking: is this a JOKE?
Those areas noted on the map are the most close to the “goal”.
Why not stretch and REACH out to new housing developing areas?
Good Grief. I’m laughing at this joke!
The only that seems remotely practical is the South Albany one because there is nothing there and it can be built from scratch. Put a central area with shopping and services and then build the housing (homes/apts/etc) around it. It’s on the bus line, near LBCC and a main highway for quick trips when you need to leave the area. Trying to shoehorn in this type of project in an existing area will be incredibly expensive and irritate a lot of people unless they plan to eminent domain a bunch of houses to provide central areas for the requisite infrastructure that those living in the near by homes will need.
I wonder what kind of housing they plan on putting in the Heritage Mall parking lot?
This is already an obvious waste of our tax dollars by people that would be far more useful if they simply grabbed a broom and swept the bike lanes.