As seen from the other side of Ninth, this is the site of a proposed “Albany Dispensary,” between the street and the back of the white building in the background.
The Albany Planning Division has issued a public notice of a proposed building project, called “Cannabros Albany” on one plan sheet and “Albany Dispensary” on another, off the eastbound leg coming off the Pacific Boulevard overpass.
The vacant piece of property is on two adjacent tax lots at 739 and 815 Ninth Ave. S.E. Ninth Avenue there is part of the couplet carrying two highways, Oregon 99E and U.S. 20.
The site is between the highway and the back of a strip mall facing Pacific Boulevard. There’s already a marijuana shop in the strip mall, and two more within a block to the east.
The property owner, Peter E. Brock of Sherwood, told me on the phone that the project was still in the planning stages and he didn’t want to comment on it.
The plans submitted to the city for review call for a one-story, 2,438-square-foot building for retail sales. The planning staff says it is intended as a shop selling marijuana. There would be parking for 18 cars and 10 bicycles.
The city planning staff said the application was for approval of the site plan as well as adjustment of a property line.
Owners within 300 feet were being notified of the application and invited to comment on it in relation to standards in the city’s development code. The standards cover points such as off-street parking, landscaping and such. Comments are due by the close of business on May 18.
The zoning designation of the property is “community commercial,” and the proposed use is allowed there.
Approval of the site plan is required before a building permit can be issued. But not all approved site plans result in something actually being built. (hh)
This bare patch of ground is roughly where parking for the proposed building would be.
Do we not have enough in town?
Like antique stores downtown, fast food and coffee drive throughs, they multiply like rabbits….
How do we go about voicing our opinions to the city? What a seriously terrible idea. Not only wasting money to build a whole new building when there a MORE THAN PLENTY of old, unused buildings to be repurposed literally anywhere else. Spread them out, you’re not benefiting anybody. What a waste of time and money. Do better Albany.
Perhaps, if the originating legislation/rules-making had allowed citing a cannabis outlet less onerous your argument would make sense. However, the rules being what they are, it is difficult to employ “old, unused buildings to be repurposed.” The prudes who initially wrote the regs for liquor stores, (not near schools, not near libraries, not near churches, etcetera) have made certain that the same prudishness carried over to cannabis regulation. And for what? Between weed and whiskey outlets, it seems more than likely a majority of Albanians over age 21 partake in one or both of these so-called vices. The issue is not that cannabis entrepreneurs might be interested in using existing infrastructure. The issue is the repressed vision of those charged with rule-making. Until and unless Albanians can free themselves from the Dark Morality Overlords, this situation will likely be repeated.
It’s sad to see Oregon devolve further into feudalism, where private ownership of land is still allowed but development rights have been taken by state & local governments.
Growth-management plans, site plans, development codes, urban growth boundaries, zoning designations, building permits, and a handful of anointed commissions.
The only thing that amazes me is how a private land owner can survive running the city’s bureaucratic gauntlet. Is it any wonder why real estate has gotten so expensive?