HASSO HERING

A perspective from Oregon’s mid-Willamette Valley

Plan submitted for Albany housing project

Written January 13th, 2025 by Hasso Hering

 

This is the side of “Colonia Solidaridad” that will face Creel Avenue, according to a drawing submitted to city planners.

Albany city planners are reviewing a site plan for a subsidized housing project facing Creel Avenue, a residential street one block south of the Walmart Supercenter.

Farmworker Housing Development Corp., a nonprofit based in Woodburn, submitted the site plan. It calls for a 54-unit apartment complex with 47 parking spaces and various amenities including a community building, a playground and a community garden.

The application gives the location as an 8.6-acre former grass seed field at 4400 Spicer Drive. The parcel stretches from Spicer Drive on its south side to Creel Avenue in the north.

The building would be on the north side, facing Creel, with parking in the back and access to the parking lot from a proposed extension of Goldfish Farm Road.

Approval of the site plan is up to the planning staff. Property owners within 1,000 feet of the parcel have been notified. They have been invited to submit comments related to the city’s development standards. The deadline for submitting written comments is Jan.  22, 2025.

When this project was last in the news, in October 2023, the city council requested a $1.8 million federal grant to help pay for building a sewer main and extending Goldfish Farm Road. The grant would cover part of the $2.7 million the public improvements were estimated to cost. The rest would come from other government grants and city systems development charges.

As I reported at the time, the Farmworker nonprofit bought the 8.6-acre field in January 2023 for $2,178,000, with most of the purchase price provided by government grants.

A memo to the council in 2023  described Colonia Solidaridad: “The community will provide 150 affordable rental units, 10 to 12 townhomes for affordable home ownership, and a childcare and education center in four phases over the next several years.”

“Affordable,” as explained to me at the time, means units should be affordable to households making 80 percent or less of the median income in the Albany area.

The 54-unit complex now being planned covers about one-third of the development’s eventual size. (hh)





12 responses to “Plan submitted for Albany housing project”

  1. Bill Kapaun says:

    Intended for non US citizens.

    • Bob Woods says:

      You are a real piece of work Kapaun. I guess you prefer people to sleep in the bushes and be homeless.

      https://fhdc.org/
      “Farmworker Housing Development Corporation is a community-based non-profit organization dedicated to serving mid-Willamette Valley families. FHDC was established in 1990 when Oregon Legal Services, Salud Medical Center, PCUN (Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers United), Farmworker Ministries, and a number of individuals joined forces to establish a single agency for the development of affordable housing for low-income farmworkers. While we still have a strong presence in the farmworking community, our services and housing has expanded into workforce housing to meet the needs of our changing communities and the crisis of meeting the needs across the board to build enough stable, safe and affordable housing in Oregon:

      Partners:
      Girl Scouts of Oregon/SW Washington
      Oregon Housing and Community Services
      Meyer Memorial Trust
      Carleton Hart Architecture
      Architecture Community
      CASA of Oregon
      MANO a MANO
      USDA Rural Development
      EVOLVE
      OSU Extension Services Marion County
      Network for Oregon Affordable Housing
      Housing Development Center
      LNC Construction

      • Bill Kapaun says:

        I simply prefer we support our native born homeless before we start importing homeless.

        The vast majority of funds are taxpayer contributed. The “private” organizations only contribute a drop in the bucket.

        I suggest people simply Google “Farmworker Housing Development Corp” and see for themselves.

        You OTOH haven’t seen anything that doesn’t help fatten your Public Employee’s pension.

        • Bob Zybach says:

          I agree. This is the modern-day slave market. Catering to underpaid and often illegal farm and forestry workers to the benefit of a few wealthy landowners or government bureaucrats is unfair to both the taxpayer and to the abused immigrant.

          Migrant labor completely destroyed Oregon’s reforestation industry 40 years ago, and now Oregon Department of Forestry is giving awards to Mexican workers who planted trees for a private landowner (Weyco) over several years. Driver’s licenses, improved housing, food stamps, State protection, and prominent awards are enticements for people to illegally immigrate to Oregon. To the direct economic detriment of our poor and middle-class citizens.

          If it is true that American’s have become too soft to plant trees, operate a chain saw, repair roofs, cook food, or mow lawns, then these folks should be made to take English lessons, provided a livable full-time wage, maintain a local address — and given a path to citizenship. This is unethical on both sides — treatment of taxpayers and treatment of “undocumented workers.” Assimilation vs. abuse is the equation that worked in the past.

  2. CHEZZ says:

    Hopefully, more of this type of housing to come! Great plan!

  3. t154 says:

    evil Wal-Mart will be happy.

  4. David Matheny says:

    I don’t like it! Albany is at its Max’s population as far as I see it. Take care of the people we already have here now.

  5. Michael C says:

    Affordable housing is required to cost a household less than 30% of their income (including rent, electricity, and gas). This must be true for all households there and, yes, income qualifications apply as such housing targets households who make 80% or less of the area’s median income (the average income for the area).

    In Albany, this means housing that is meant to be affordable for a household of 4 that makes 67,900 or less a year as of 2024 (the totals adjust yearly).

  6. Cyndi Marrs says:

    Details, please? Square feet per unit? Bdr/ba per unit? I’m still hopeful someone will build a 50-100 400-450 sq ft studio condo building. Allow low income folks pride of ownership in their own actual home.

  7. Dale says:

    54 units with 47 parking spaces, need to go back to the planning stages

  8. Peg says:

    So 54 units and 47 parking spot? So 7 Apts won’t have parking and everyone KNOWS there is such a thing as 1 car families anymore, so where do they park? Our city is stupid if they approve this!

  9. Dala Rouse says:

    Unless the state made us change the Development code multiple family housing is supposed to be located on collector or arterial streets under 3.020 and provide 1 space per unit with 1 visitor space for every 4 units. But when the city wants something why would laws stand in their way. A few less units and more parking would be good. As far as housing illegals that might come to a halt soon. I would like to see our legal citizens get off the streets first. Homeless Veterans too.

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