On Sept. 14 I parked he bike in front of the large stormwater swale at Santiam Road (left) and Main Street (right).
Every once in a while a bike ride takes me past the corner of Main Street and Santiam Road in Albany to check on progress there, the former site of the historic Cumberland church.
“I am 90 percent done with the site improvements that included the storm water detention feature, parking lot, new city curb, gutter, roadway, sidewalks, cross walk, etc.,” owner Yohn Baldwin told me in an email Friday.
The former church building was moved off the lot in 2021 to be turned into the Cumberland Community Events Center a couple of blocks away, at Santiam and Pine Street.
Baldwin, owner of nearby Baldwin General Contracting, bought the church lot in 2022 with plans to use it for parking for a new business he hopes will move into the warehouse next door. The original idea was to put a little park at the very tip of the corner, but the stormwater swale had to be built there instead.
Baldwin said the swale, required by the city, is bigger than the parking lot. “Crazy to have to build a $75,000 hole in the ground to manage water from nine parking lot spaces,” he wrote.
Yet to be completed on the site are a bike shelter, striping of the parking lot, lighting and landscaping. Baldwin expects all that to be done by the end of October.
Being nosy, I asked him what all this was costing. The final cost of site preparation, he said, will be $307,000.
His original idea was to remodel the warehouse for a fitness center and as retail space, but the prospective tenant has moved on. Now Baldwin is working with someone on another potential use, which would entail redesigning the interior. He also plans to check with the city about altering the storefront system originally approved.
For the outcome, stay tuned. (hh)
“Crazy to have to build a $75,000 hole in the ground to manage water from nine parking lot spaces.”
Welcome to the permission slip economy (phrase coined by Veronique de Rugy).
Very little gets done anymore without government authorization. Sadly, Americans are poorer as a result.
So all that money, time and effort to move the Cumberland Church just to have a parking lot and hole in the ground?
Thinking about the irony that the lot (and church)was owned by the city for over twenty years and they were unwilling to spend any money on improvements. Yet when a private company buys the land to repurpose it the city is very willing to saddle the new owner with improvement requirements costing over $300,000!
Not surprised at all… Moved out of Albany 7 yrs ago and the hypocrisy of city government and CARA Association seems to be alive and well….. New city council members and a mayor that actually tackles the issues that have been ongoing for decades now….. is a dire need. All I see is new expensive townhouses being built, no affordable housing or apartments available, prices going up, homeless #’s going up and trash all over the city… While the historical downtown part of Albany gets most of the attention. It’s sad and also angering.
Hasso could you find out anything about why the parking lot at Advance Auto parts has not been paved yet? They did pave the back area where the church is. It’s been like that for over 3 months. Or if anyone else might know?
Dear Hasso, I love your reporting. Your lovely wife was such a blessing to me. (The school district).
I read 98% of your articles. My husband always asks me, when I tell him about the news, is that from HASSO?
Thanks for the kind words.
The math says $307k divided by 9 parking spaces equals a cost of $34,111 for each space. I would love to hear somebody from the City explain the logic in this and the benefit of these swales? All the clamor over the cost of housing, when it seems obvious that government regulation is what is driving the price up.
Helping hands put in drainage as a requirement to put in a parking lot and redo pavement that did not need repair. Our friends said that people from their church were asked 2 times for $225,000 (450,000) to make the small parking lot next to the shelter. How is that helping the homeless? I guess since they expect no one to ever leave there and they will keep bringing more homeless to Albany. They said there were no more than 10 spaces so 45,000 per parking spot.
If Mr Baldwin is required to install this swale then I believe the Cumberland church should have to do the same and incur costs relative to the Baldwin swale, it’s a total waste of business dollars so everyone associated with Cumberland should start more fund raising, Total Waste,