Northside Church will build here on Powers Avenue, but this side of the road will have to be widened.
The Benton County Board of Commissioners today voted 2-1 to approve a conditional use permit for the Northside Christian Church to build a worship and event center on Powers Avenue in North Albany.
Commissioners Pat Malone and Nancy Wyse voted to approve the project. Gabe Shepherd voted no.
The board action overturns a denial of the development by the Benton County Planning Commission.
The discussion this morning dealt largely with traffic projections when the development is built. Shepherd previously expressed concern about the impact of additional traffic caused by activities at the church.
The 19-acre site, at 4500 Powers Ave. NW, now is an open field with a barn and one residence. The church plans to build a 28,557-square-foot, two-story multipurpose building with seating for 500, along with a 286-space parking lot and a storage building, plus a water tank and related facilities.
Many nearby residents oppose the project, saying its size is out of proportion to the rural residential zoning of the neighborhood, outside the Albany city limits.
As a condition of approval, Northside will have to widen Powers Avenue in front of its property before using the building it plans to construct.
It will also have to secure approval of its septic system from the state before it can get a building permit.
The county board must still adopt formal findings to support its decision. That must happen sometime before Sept. 25, the legal deadline for disposing of this land-use action.
When will construction start? Northside hasn’t said. The neighborhood will know when the heavy equipment shows up or the barn on the field is taken apart. (hh)
More potholes on Powers Ave….I’m sure the church will pass the hat…..not..
So disappointing
Don’t we have enough mega churches in Albany?
I do not know how many mega churches we have in Albany, please enlighten me.
I can think of 3 mega churches in little ‘ol Albany right off the bat, and I’m no church-goer.
They are: The big church that has many blocks of buildings and parking lots, etc. right off Santiam Highway…on the other side of the road from Starbucks and Fred Meyer. No. 2: The new perfectly groomed mega church next to Staples…the one with the brand new blacktop and landscaping and no activity….(most of their proselytizing for new members is done online.) And. No. 3: An evangelical (read that as “big”) church just bought Allann Bros. Coffee Shop building on the east side of I-5.
Or empty buildings that could be used instead of destroying nature. Who’s responsible for the roads after all that heavy equipment tears it up? The taxpayers, local neighbors?
Benton County taxpayers!
There was so much ambiguity, misinformation, and blatant disregard for the area in the application. Not exactly how I’d expect a church to behave – and it gives me no confidence they intend to, or will, be good (Christian) neighbors. Their request for outdoor amplified sound alone proves that.
30,000 sq ft would go a long way toward providing much needed shelter in the Linn Benton area but I guess the Lord needs another house of worship more.
Ugh…shame on the board for not listening to the surrounding neighbors concerns…this is very disappointing!
Maybe SATAN will have the final say….
There’s a lot of money in North Albany. Organize and hire an attorney to fight it. That’s what they’d do if it was reversed.
The neighborhood effort has done exactly that already. We have legal representation, but it’s no help when dealing with a kangaroo court.
Puzzled that Benton County winds up on the short side of public sentiment on a consistent basis.
There goes the neighborhood!
It is so sad that a church that seeks to provide a foundation based on the love of Jesus would turn a blind eye to the neighbors concerns and believe that their church is more important than the land, the environment and the objection of the neighbors. It would be the Christian thing to do is to sell the land for something more caring to the land. It would be nice if it stayed a field with a wonderful barn and the beauty of the area preserved. Or to make it a park or lastly a small housing development if anything needed to be built. Show the true love of Jesus and reconsider. And to the commisioners, too bad you don’t live in the neighborhood so you would know the feel of the neighbors now feeling like their voices have no say, but the business of government if more important than the say of the people. So sad…
You have to be realistic. Why pay over 1 million dollars for 19 acres and keep the barn and keep the field. No way would that happen. Whoever sold the 19 acres needed the money, and keeping the barn and keeping the field does not generate money. The church who bought it makes plenty of money from a non-taxed mega church. Sorry, but you have to get real. Life is not a picnic, unfortunately.
The neighbors aren’t in opposition of the land being developed per Rural Residential 2 code. That would equate to about 8, tax paying homes. We understand it will be developed – we want it to match and sustain the character of the area – which is very rural residential.
Editorials to the Gazette/Democrat Herald might be a way to let Benton County Residents know what has happened here. This not only affects our neighborhood but all of Benton County involving RR2 zoning. Pat Malone will be out soon. Too bad it wasn’t sooner
What is the story behind the owner of the land to sell to the church knowing that they wanted to build a big church on the property? Or maybe the seller didn’t care anymore about the neighborhood?