Two years ago, I looked south from this dead end of Timber Street across land that some day may hold 1,000 dwelling units in the “East Albany Town Center.”
Albany city officials have unveiled drawings of a concept for a development that may create about a thousand more dwelling units east of Interstate 5.
The project is outlined in the agenda for the Albany City Council meeting on Wednesday, June 11.
The city staff is proposing to initiate the annexation of roughly 30 acres of mostly vacant or sparsely developed land where the development would be built. The land is south of Highway 20 and between Spicer Drive and Walmart.
The project goes by the name East Albany Town Center. It calls for construction of roughly 1,000 units of “workforce housing,” along with 50,000 square feet of commercial space. Besides housing, it would offer space for “accessible services,” whatever that means.
The housing would come in various arangements from single homes to townhomes and three- and four-story apartment blocks. The plan also mentions “6 over 1,” which may mean six floors of housing on top of commercial space on the ground floor.
A memo to the council says the concept is in line with the East Albany Plan, approved by an earlier council..
The proposal calls for two new roundabouts on Spicer Road, a southward extension of Timber Street into the complex, and a traffic signal at Timber Street and Highway 20.
The East Albany Town Center enterprise is sponsored by “Affordable Housing Oregon,” a private organization whose previous construction projects included the Hub City Village enclave of tiny houses, and Nichols & Irish, a Corvallis consulting company.
The organization says it “collaborates with private partners to create affordable housing without subsidies.” But to prepare for this venture, the council on Jan. 22 applied for a state grant from the “transportation and growth management program” in an unspecified amount. The staff expects the grant to be approved.
The annexation would cover several properties the venture has either bought or optioned. Once applied for by the city staff, the annexation would go through the normal approval process before the planning commission and then the council. There would be public hearings, but the outcome would be a foregone conclusion.
As part of the annexation, the developers and the city would negotiate a development agreement to nail down details of the project.
The agenda material does not give a timeline for when these apartments and other units might be finished and occupied by their “workforce” owners or tenants.
When they are built, maybe by then ODOT will have found the money and time to rework the nearby Highway 20 freeway interchange. But I wouldn’t bet on it. (hh)
This drawing of the “East Albany Town Center” concept was included with the city council’s June 11 agenda.
Here’s another view of the concept. The white buildings near top right are Walmart and, in the corner, Coastal Farm.
This is somewhat similar that Independence has created in their downtown by the river. IMO it is pretty sterile looking.
Thanks to the roundabouts.. the existing Albany infrastructure should have no problem.
That’s if Albany can figure out how to drive through one. I swear Oregon gives anybody a license nowadays
You think Albany’s bad, you should see Corvallis. I actually had a driver stop in the roundabout to let me in! LOL!
“The East Albany Town Center enterprise is sponsored by “Affordable Housing Oregon,” a private organization whose previous construction projects included the Hub City Village enclave of tiny houses, and Nichols & Irish, a Corvallis consulting company.”
What does “Sponsored” mean. It appears to be another “non profit” with well remunerated executives sucking at the public trough. Does it have an actual mailing address?
Just another commie “15 minute city”. (look up 15 minute cities)
That’s why it looks so sterile, because it is.
You are so correct. You can goggle how C40 cities. They are not a good thing at this time. But it’s going to happen. They are a fancy word for concentration camps.
“commie”????? that’s just hilarious!
people should consider the “forgone conclusion” that this will be built – period. growth is here to stay – if you build it, they will come.
important considerations are for roads, other infrastructure and schools, such as impact fees the developer will need to pay. also if the retail on the ground floor really pencils out to support the other floors above AND the low income housing that will likely be insisted upon (and should be) for a large percentage of these units – they should be affordable after all. of course, the “market” will determine how this all pencils out so get your circular slide rules ready as well.
those of us who have lived in the PNW for 30 years or more have seen all of this at least once, or twice, in the small towns that try to stay charming and relevant at the same time. albany residents should insist that the things that make albany a special place to live, a gem of oregon, get baked into the plans for this “town center”.
and whatever happens hold the council’s feet to the fire – anything that makes this thing go sideways should be THEIR problem, NOT OURS.
Affordable housing starting at $450,000 lol and then TONS of apartments ..yuck
Traffic light, we are still waiting for one on Columbus with all the new homes and traffic.
Absolutely disgusting and should not be built in my opinion. This isn’t Portland and we don’t want it to be. The whole east Albany plan is horrible and should be scrapped before it gets started. One more time the city council is cramming something in our neighborhood down our throats without any consequences or conversations with the people that live here. We tried to stop it a couple years ago and it was only a slight blip in the road for the council.
Oh Jeff, people need places to live. There are people in your community, many are young adults, needing places to live, so they can leave home. Albany is growing. Everywhere is. Get used to it. We need this development, and a thousand more like it to satisfy demand.
roundabouts- it seems we do not care so much for them here in america. after ww2, europe had a clean slate to build roads. they had much more room to work with. they built big roundabouts. it seems the ones we have over here are quite small, compared to what we see over there. the size may possibly have a lot to do with how they function for us here in america. i can vision a big one for the bermuda triangle. ….with 70 small apartments in the middle.
Speak for yourself regarding your negative opinion of roundabouts. You don’t speak for the whole country. Have you been to the cities in Deschutes County in the last 15 years?Roundabouts have been thoroughly studied and proven time and time again to work better in certain intersections than traditional light signals.
OMG more builders padding their pockets. More traffic, round-a-bouts don’t solve that problem. Less land for wildlife. In a few years these “dwellings” as you call them will look like typical run down apartments. Build more “people will come” from where? CA? Dwellings people can’t afford at 1500 for a studio. Plans for developments in Albany were drawn and ok’d back in early ’70? Or ’60. So I was told. Albany is far from environmentally friendly with all the construction. Portland is going to add on charges to drive electric. Tina Kotek. People want small, quiant, that’s why they move. Read more and you’ll discover this! People need to appear at City Council, before Albany is Portland or CA-LA.
Suppose the city council will find enough money in this new favored pet project to fix the current city streets.
The city of Albany is hell bent on making the city a slum of housing. Check places like Jersey City and Newark NJ for conglomerations of disgusting crowding. They have NO respect for open space and for the peace the residents should have. JUST JAM THEM IN and they WILL COME ! This is pure madness, and should be STOPPED at all costs. Get rid of these politicians who are doing this to Albany in the name of “progress”. This is totally cruelty and if you’re not sure about what it will look like, just come over on Knoxbutte Rd and see the “city” that is already built at the circle by Timber Ridge.
We lived on Spicer Drive around the corner from Home Depot from 1995-2017. At the time we moved in there was talk about those roundabouts then and a road being pushed through on Timber Street between Highway 20 and Spicer. That little piece of road there on Spicer was not in the city and so our taxes were much cheaper. Wonder if they will finally annex that part in so that there is more coverage with police etc. of course then the taxes would go up a huge amount. Maybe they should just use all this money they think they need to spend and fix the roads in Albany that have been a mess since we moved here in 1969. The same streets that needed fixing then are still in need of repair. Where do all those funds go that are designated for street repair. Oh wait, it is skimmed off and put somewhere else.
The city said they would not be trying to annex us in hopefully they don’t. This train wreck being built is enough
When we lived on Spicer the property across the street had to have flood insurance because the area where they are considering all of this had been a flood zone I guess. At the end of that section more over after where Spicer curves they had to keep getting homeless camps out of there. Hopefully they don’t annex it because your taxes will skyrocket. When we moved from there in 2017 and moved to Millersburg our taxes went up $1200. Quite a shock. It’s just one foolish thing after another that they try to push through like trying to get rid of the little airport there.
Good grief, we want all these apartments, townhouses etc, but yet Albany, Corvallis, and Lebanon don’t seem to want to bring businesses, manufacturing for people to have good jobs to pay for what we have or need now! What’s wrong with this picture? People building these always say affordable, but never say amount affordable is??? Come on people be honest and be up front and tell us!!!
Housing is needed,as well as infrastructure. Hope that includes a new on and off ramp to I 5. That is really a must.
I will say that if you want to know prices for people who are disabled etc and don’t make it where whoever is feeling like this is now a Portland when Albany has been a Awesome area and people can lower their price for people to find a place to live and a bunch of extra stuff doesn’t have to be built.Fix what is already here and get that done.
“Affordable Housing” without subsidies? For who? Workforce Housing?
What kind of “Services?”
What about all the animals that live on that land? When we build on top of them, they will be forced into our homes! Who wants to deal with rats and nutrias more than we already are??? Also, imagine having a house built in top of your house and you have no say whatsoever? Terrible idea. I hate it. Big thumbs down. There are already many vacant apartments in Albany
Is the city going to attempt to exempt any of this project from property taxes? Where are they going to find the funds for to develop the infrastructure that will be required?
What about putting a new Albany hospital on the land behind Walmart instead of more apartments? A hospital in our historic district is really stupid. It worked back in the 1940s but not now. We live on Spicer and in the county. Don’t add us into the city. No to this development.
We need jobs with a living wage. More so called affordable housing doesn’t fix the problem. People can’t afford the housing we have now. It will force homeowners out of the homes they have already paid for. We can’t afford higher taxes. It won’t just involve vacant land it will become a land grab.
When will we get to the root of all these problems? Overpopulation.
Let’s face it folks. People are angry in Lebanon and Albany over all the building of affordable homes so the Planning says. However, if you want authoritarianism there you have it. They don’t care what people who have lived here want. They are going to power through quickly so we are just like CA and Portland. Read what is happening to a hundred year old farm in New Jersey. Planning walked in finally and took it. Take pictures to show your children and grandchildren how beautiful it used to be here.
Why….affordable baloney. Money for Albany City coffers…. No solution to old and holding repairs, and upgrades. We are not in the Portland area. Have you been to Beaverton, Hillsboro, Tigard areas? Support and maintain your current infrastructures. Realize that you need a decent paying employment structure for people to afford anything. You can’t decently house the population now. Stop this I’ve got mine too bad about yours attitude before it goes any further.
The idea of “Affordable Housing Oregon (AHO)”, they built Hub City is scary. I have a very good friend that lives there. AHO set up a structure where residents have a ‘board made up of residents’ that control Hub City. They are now demanding residents submit to a UA and must have a board member watch the person actually pee into the cup. That is just the latest I have been told that goes on there. A clear violation of not only HIPPA but also Landlord Tenant Laws. The City Council has no idea what is really going on there.
As for the street comments, read the City of Albany website. It basically says, the City maintains the streets that are seen. Not your neighborhood streets. Lipstick on a Pig!