This is the wooded 1.3 acres at 241 Waverly Drive S.E. the Creating Housing coalition proposes to turn into Hub City Village.
Creating Housing Coalition has let people know where it intends to build Hub City Village, its proposed community of about two dozen tiny houses for people who otherwise would likely be homeless.
The Albany nonprofit sent an email Monday announcing that it had entered into a contract to buy a piece of land, the 1.3-acre parcel at 241 Waverly Drive S.E., on the east side of Waverly between Pacific Boulevard and Salem Avenue.
The densely wooded property is occupied by an old homestead, which now looks vacant. The site is bordered by single-family lots on the north and, on the south, by a car cash and lube business and a motel.
The coalition gave no details about its contract, including how much it plans to pay. It did publish a layout of its array of small dwellings and said it had presented the plan to city planners and made changes.
Last fall, the Albany City Council approved a request by the property’s owner, R.J. Alldritt of Bend, to rezone the parcel from single-family to medium-density residential use.
Councilwoman Stacey Bartholomew recused herself from that action without explanation. Now we know the reason. She’s the president of Creating Housing Coalition. Her group evidently had its eye on the property by that time and needed the zone change to make it work.
Neighborhood opponents said at a public hearing they did not want three-story apartments there, which the new zoning would allow with up to 30 units, and they did not want their neighborhood to lose the big trees on the lot.
The housing group has not yet filed for a land use permit. When it does, it will seek approval of a “planned development” and a tree-felling permit.
City planning manager David Martineau told me the coalition’s preliminary plan so far is for “between 21-25 small dwelling units … together with a community building, parking, landscaping, and gardens.”
There will have to be a hearing before the city planning commission to get the project approved.
The coalition is supported by government grants and money that is privately raised. Speaking of which, it has a fundraising dinner planned for Sunday, July 17, at the Albany Golf and Event Center. For details, check the organization’s website here. (hh)
The Housing Coalition published this drawing of its proposed development on Waverly Drive.
This is what’s there now.
Glad they can finally get the project underway. Great organization. Super Albany Community effort.
If it is monitored for drug and criminal activity and as much of the rural landscape maintained as possible I don’t have a problem
We need to do something besides just wringing our hands and finding fault with every proposal
Sounds like a win/win for everyone. A good project for our community.
I Haven’t seen the property yet but seems like getting rid of trees to help people is kind of missing the point these days. I’m sure on hot days the shade will be missed.
Ever wonder why local stores seem so crowded? Why traffic is so bad? Drive down Knox Butte to Timber Ridge. Thousands of new or being built apartment units. Numerous new building tracks throughout Albany. Have our illustrious city planners considered how to support this growth? Are new shopping centers in the plans? I doubt it. Just plan on everything becoming slower and more crowded.
Even though I’m sure you won’t bother, but the answers to your questions are on the city website and you should start with the Comprehensive Plan: https://www.cityofalbany.net/cd/compplan
After that, read the Development Code which lays out all the Zoning and shows where things are to develop. https://www.cityofalbany.net/cd/development-code
After you finish those, maybe the quality of your questions and comments will improve since you will have the actual background information you wonder about.
Typical legalese gibberish. Not intended to provide answers, just confusion and more questions.
That “legalese gibberish” is the foundation of our city.
So – rather than constantly whining behind anonymity, you might try getting involved to see how things really work. Nope – that’s too hard for you to comprehend because it requires reading and understanding…
Some foundation
From “the horses mouth”. A comment dated June 17th asked about city council involvement in real estate dealings. Your response was: “I only get 93%. But in a couple months, I’ll have enough saved for an extended trip to Bora Bora…. “
This from an elected official. Is this “…how things really work”? Just when are we supposed to take you seriously, Ray?
I hope they keep the big trees for both shade and the fact the big old trees will make it look really nice compared to open bare “new” landscape. I hope they can build around the trees.
We, the people in the immediate area of this forced construction, voted down to have apartments built there. Now, they found a loop hole to force it down our throats.. Who benefits from this ? Who is getting paid off ? How do we adjust to loosing property value because of this pending cluster ? The current city fathers care nothing about the people of Albany. Just income. Building permits alone, in Albany are around $20,000. Where is this money going ?
There is already enough Theft in that area, Ring alarms every day of something stolen from the homeless living near the water gardens, This is piss poor decision, every other homeless camp i’ve seen has a location away from neighborhoods where they will not continue to steal and fund their drug habits on the tax payers dime.
Definitely no thought whatsoever went into the location by the CHC, if the City planning commission approves this, someone on the council needs to be investigated for being paid off.
Read the description of this venture on the coalition website, especially the people whobwill live there and how they are organized, and you may see that your concerns are not well founded.
While great in theory, in Practice the safety issues these villages brings are abyssmal, and your ignorant of people and their capabilities to do things while on drugs, it takes no intelligence whatsoever to get into a homeless village by lying. is quite simple.
As for who will live there, “Those who experience chronic homelessness” ( ie drug users that refuse shelters.) This is the same spiel every other non-profit has created for this “bleeding heart” campaign that is sweeping across Oregon, wasting money and efforts of taxpayers. This is why Portland is revisiting and questioning the use of these camps, there has not been a “success story” yet, even Dignity Village in Portland created in 2001, still has issues.
a PSU study was released on April 5th, 2022 , it says residents who had issues, decreased from 44% to 30%, but 30% of neighbors are still unsatisfied, while seeming insignificant, that is huge when you think of people who’s health, home, and safety are at risk.
I’m pretty sure my concerns are valid,
Recent Examples of Failures:
https://www.wweek.com/news/city/2022/05/28/old-town-homeless-village-will-close-after-nonprofit-operator-says-conditions-too-dangerous/
https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/homeless/new-approach-housing-homeless-faces-backlash/283-555c6fc6-b3b4-43f5-b07d-0d561c579213
Well, we’ll see. But this project is not a homeless camp of the kind set up by some cities to concentrate vagrants in one place and get them off the sidewalks. It’s a develoment of permanent dwellings with utilities and amenities, charging rent, and hopefully providing an array of services to help the residents cope with life.
Shane, go to the CHC website and see who the President, Program Development Chair is. Surprise!
Maybe read the part in Hasso’s article- “Councilwoman Stacey Bartholomew recused herself from that action without explanation. Now we know the reason. She’s the president of Creating Housing Coalition. Her group evidently had its eye on the property by that time and needed the zone change to make it work.”
Yay Hub City – their vision, planning, and plain hard work will pay off!