After a debate about transparency and accountability, the seven members of the Albany City Council voted 5-2 Wednesday to add to the consulting contract for the city’s project to redevelop part of the Willamette riverfront.
Albany’s urban renewal program has been working on plans for redoing the Willamette riverfront for about three years. Now the city is getting ready to take the next step toward carrying out the plans.
Albany has approved a site plan for redoing a Water Avenue parking lot in order to make it fit in with the planned riverfront redevelopment. The estimated cost is $182,000.
Plans for Albany’s riverfront call for improving crossings on the Water Avenue rail line, opening new ones and closing others. But the new or improved crossings won’t have to be protected with automatic arms.
Based on a notation on a remodeling permit, I reported in April that an “outpatient addiction treatment facility” was going into the historic Avery Mill Building on the Albany riverfront. Today I found out a little more.
The Albany Planning Division has invited public comment on what seems to be the first work proposed as part of the city’s Waterfront Project — making changes on Water Avenue between the two highway bridges including the city-owned parking lot there.
On the riverfront beat, a case of false alarm
It looked like a serious situation, and it could have been, with Albany police and the fire department deployed on the banks of the Willamette River and a drone flying overhead.
Tags: Albany Fire Department, Albany police, Albany riverfront, Dave Clark Path, suspicious item, Water Avenue, water rescue team