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Study Area

The North Albany Refinement Plan is a land use plan for all of North Albany with special attention to the Hickory Street area as a village center. The Refinement Plan builds on the preferred pattern developed in the recent Balanced Development Patterns project. Using the Plan, the City hopes to increase urban development efficiency and to balance land uses to ease access to local services and reduce the need to drive across the river into Albany. The North Albany Refinement Plan, which includes Comprehensive Plan, Development Code, and Transportation System Plan amendments, will be presented to elected officials for adoption.

The North Albany Study Area includes about 2,550 acres north of the Willamette River and inside the Albany Urban Growth Boundary. The area is a patchwork of open fields and low-density residential subdivisions developed over the last 40 years. Highway 20 is its primary access.

The North Albany Study Area includes a Detailed Study Area around Hickory Street. The 150-acre area is generally bounded by Springhill Road on the east, Highway 20 to the south, Blossom Lane on the west, and the Willamette & Pacific Railroad to the north. All of this area is within the mapped floodplain of the Willamette River, but extensive filling has altered the topography. The Detailed Study Area includes all of North Albany’s commercial-zoned land. Commercial activity in this area has been flat in the last ten years, but the community is strongly interested in reestablishing a grocery store. The Detailed Study Area also includes all of North Albany’s medium-density residential land. Over the last decade, medium- to higher-end single-family housing developed rapidly throughout North Albany, but there was no medium-density development. The City would like to assess the Detailed Study Area as a potential walkable main street and gateway for North Albany, and as a strong link to downtown.