Passers-by on Airport Road can see this billboard for a planned development on Franklin Avenue.
An errand last month took me along Airport Road in Albany, where I was surprised to see a billboard that said the site of a long-planned housing development was for sale.
The first time I wrote about this 6.5-acre property was back in 2019. On a bike ride I was impressed by the large number of mature trees in a grove bounded by Airport Road on one side and single-family homes and a trailer park on the others. And beyond Airport Road there’s I-5.
Over the years since, city planners approved first a zone change to allow apartments and later a site plan for 11 houses and 44 apartments. In 2020, the owners got city permission to remove 251 of 309 Oregon white oaks, and eventually many of the trees were cut.
The city’s original approval of the plan to develop the property expired last June, and the applicant asked for an extension.
“We granted the extension on June 17, 2025, in accordance with the Albany Development Code,” said David Martineau, manager of current planning for the city. “The new expiration date is August 5, 2027. If a purchaser acquires the property in the meantime, they can develop the site as it was approved, or they can submit a new plan and start at the beginning.”
The billboard shows the development plan the city approved: Eleven single-family houses along Franklin Avenue and the property’s west side, 44 apartments in the middle, a wooded area along Airport Road, and the rest undeveloped wetlands.
I pointed my phone at the QR code on the sign and learned that the owners are asking $2,250,000. “Reports completed and permits paid,” the ad says. “Strong local housing market driven by population growth.”
By the way, the proposed development has a name: “Franklin Reserve.” Which I think someone said sounds like some kind of wine. (hh)
The billboard shows the development plan as approved by the city. Dark green is wetlands.
Who needs trees? Looking forward to increased traffic on Airport.