If you want to punish someone in Albany, you can sentence them to watch a hearing before the city’s Landmarks Commission. That’s my impression as I am following the proceedings before this board on Wednesday night, now going into its fourth hour just after 9 p.m.
The Albany Landmarks Advisory Commission spent only about half an hour Wednesday night to conduct two “quasi-judicial” public hearings and then approve minor alterations on the alley side of buildings facing First Avenue.
You wouldn’t think that replacing four wooden steps at your back door would require a public hearing, but in Albany’s downtown historic district it does. So does replacing a rear door on another building not far from those steps.
On an evening stroll through central Albany east of Lyon Street, I took a few photos of houses that impressed me as restored, repainted, fixed up, or just showing signs that the owner or somebody has been taking good care of them.
A ride this week took me down Fourth Avenue in Albany’s Hackleman Historic District, and I stopped to photograph a newly built house that looked close to being completed. I was struck by how nicely it fits in with the older houses on the street.
Albany Planning Manager Bob Richardson has recommended that the city council allow the razing of three old houses in the Monteith Historic District on the condition that the demolition be put off at least 90 days in case someone wants to move the structures.
At 4th and Calapooia, a few more weeks…
This week it looked like the long-contested redevelopment of this downtown Albany corner could finally begin. But not quite yet.
Tags: Calapooia Commons, downtown Albany, Fourth and Calapooia, historic districts, Mark and Tina Siegner, mixed-use zoning