This field on Powers Avenue, shown April 12, should not hold a gymnasium and parking lot, the Benton County Planning Commission voted Tuesday night.
The Benton County Planning Commission voted Tuesday to deny a conditional use permit to build a gymnasium and parking lot on Powers Avenue in a semi-rural North Albany neighborhood.
The vote was 4-2 to deny the permit sought by Northside Christian Church, which now rents space at Oak Grove Middle School for its services for an average of $1,400 a month.
The commission voted on a motion to deny the application. The four members who voted yes, for denial, were Andrew Struthers, from the Corvallis area; Catherine Biscoe, Philomath area; Evelyn Lee, Monroe area; and Ed Fulford, Corvallis area.
Two commission members from the Albany area, Greg Hamann and Nicholas Fowler, had spoken in favor of granting the permit, and theirs were the two votes against denial.
Two other members were absent.
Fowler said the proposal met the rules for a conditional use in the rural-residential zone. Others said they were concerned about the scale of the development and its impact on the neighbors and surrounding land.
The planning commission decision can be appealed to the Benton County Board of Commissioners.
Northside originally had sought the permit for both a 54,000-square-foot sanctuary building and an 18,900-square-foot gymnasium, plus a parking lot with 189 spaces. Then it scaled back its request for just the parking lot and gym, which it would use for services. There was talk of up to 500 people attending functions in the building.
The county planning staff had recommended approval with the condition that Northside pay for widening Powers Avenue, a two-lane road without shoulders that is customarily also used by pedestrians and people on bikes.
The church rejected the road improvement condition as out of proportion to its request.
With the commission’s denial, it’s now up to the applicant whether there is a next step. (hh)
The story has been edited to report the votes. I followed the meeting remotely, and on Tuesday night I could not tell who had voted which way.
Hooray for government…..in getting the church plans halted for now.
Nicholas Fowlers opinion was some completely uninformed and ignorant. Thankfully a couple of the commissioners take their position seriously and did their homework.
HH. The two that voted to approve were the Chairman and Vice-chairman Nicholas Fowler/
Gregg Hammon
I would request you to thank all the folks that stepped up from the local area. We had hundreds of people in the area opposed and in which attended the first meeting, (as well as last night) sent in letters to the committee and it showed as there were several comments that spoke of the impact on the local residents.
The right decision.
The vote was 4 to 2 in favor of denial. In other words 4 commissioners voted to deny the development and 2 commissioners voted to allow the development. Confusion arose because the commissioners were voting on a motion to deny the development. That’s why HH was confused. Sorry HH.
There are so many areas around this city that already have structures and should be considered for the possible consideration of a church. Instead of building a new structure that obviously is not desired by many, reconsidered an established structure that may already have parking available and remodel it. North Albany has grown so much in the 30 years I have lived here and the traffic has increased, we need some time to slow things down on this side of town.
“North Albany has grown so much in the 30 years…”
Very true. However, people are still going to come, regardless of how many barriers are thrown up… I’m surprised you (and others) are not totally inured to that by now…
Yes, but for now those of us who bought outside the city limits, and paid a premium to do so, shouldn’t have to suddenly look at a gymnasium, daycare, etc.. that doesn’t want to do what’s required to get approval. The code asks, does it change the character of the area..
try to keep on topic
Just because we can’t do anything about doesn’t mean we have to like it. Just like we do with the council, we’ll just keep voting for a change.
“…we’ll just keep voting for a change.”
Bingo! You have the opportunity to do so every 2 years for your Ward…
Why doesn’t the church buy the old South Pacific used car lot instead of ruining perfectly good farm land? There’s plenty of parking and you wouldn’t have to asphalt any more of our precious earth
Good point. If it’s for sale.
Likely because they are a North Albany church, not a South Albany church.
Also, the zoning would also need to be changed as well as many of the same issues with traffic would be had in that location. It has nice road access however it’s certainly not setup for hundreds of cars at a time entering/exiting the lots and that’s without the apartment complex on the opposite corner being built.
There’s a large lot for sale in the city limits very close to where they worship now. Hopefully they look at that.