South Albany Area Plan
(formerly Oak Creek Refinement Plan)

Project Status

Prior to moving forward with the South Albany Area Plan, two technical products were needed to inform the planning process: a review of the Open Space boundary location in the Oak Creek Area; and updated information on needed commercial and industrial lands citywide.  Winterbrook Planning in Portland was hired to assist the City with these efforts.

conceptual photoOak Creek Open Space Boundary Review: Property owners in the area have been commenting that the Open Space boundary on their properties does not seem to follow natural contours.  Property zoned as Open Space has limited development potential, therefore knowing the extent and location of the boundary will impact the development patterns in the area.  Tim Brooks, a landscape architect and principal at Winterbrook Planning, reviewed the Open Space boundary and made a recommendation on potential revisions to the boundary.

Economic Opportunity Analysis Update: There were three main factors that inspired an update to the City's Economic Opportunities Analysis: (1) when it was last done in 2000,  it did not address constraints to development of property, such as wetlands, steep slopes, parcel size, etc, (2) since 2000, there has been commercial and industrial development in Albany, making previously vacant property unavailable for development, and (3) also since 2000, State policies guiding the completion of economic opportunity analyses have changed.  Greg Winterowd, a planner and principal at Winterbrook Planning, with the assistance of ECONorthwest, a planning and economic consulting firm, reviewed and updated the 2000 Economic Opportunities Analysis.

Next Steps

There will be a Planning Commission Work Session on Monday, December 3, at 5:15 pm in the Council Chambers/Willamette Room to discuss the City's economic development policies. We expect that the first public forum on the City's economic development policies will take place in January.  The forum and subsequent public hearings are expected to lead to an updated Economic Development section of the Albany Comprehensive Plan, and a final version of the updated Economic Opportunities Analysis.  Public hearings on the South Albany Area Plan will not take place until this process is complete.

Map

Download the Draft Open Space Map (1.74MB jpg)

Project Overview

The South Albany area contains most of the remaining large tracts of largely undeveloped property inside the city's urban growth boundary. Planning for the eventual development of the area will ensure that a great neighborhood will emerge in South Albany. The South Albany Area Plan relates to several other comprehensive planning efforts Albany has done over the past several years. These include Great Neighborhoods, Balanced Development Patterns (BDP), and Goal 10 Housing. The South Albany Area Plan, when adopted, will be used as the basis for future changes to the Comprehensive Plan, Zoning Map, and Development Code. It will also help inform what should be included in future annexation agreements.

Work began on this project in early 2006. Planning staff met with property owners in the area to explain the purpose of the plan and to gather their ideas. In October of 2006 about 75 citizens attended an open house in the Council Chambers. Staff, and landscape architect John Stewart, presented a draft concept plan for how the area might develop. Since that time, staff have been in touch with a number of property owners. The draft concept plan has been updated recently to address public input, including discussions with property owners.