The Housing Committee, along with Helen Higgins and Carolyn Mayers had an in-person meeting with Matthew Ruettgers, Community Development Director for the City of Albany.
It was a useful meeting with much interest on our part in the steps Albany is taking to encourage development and business opportunities. Several things impressed us one of which is how Albany conducts is pre-application meetings. The purpose of these meetings is to allow an applicant to submit preliminary plans and questions for City staff review and provide feedback, before the preparation and submittal of a formal permit application package.
Unlike Corvallis, Albany has a coordinated approach that brings all relevant staff to the meeting allowing the developer to raise and answer questions. Having all players in the same room at the same time can save the developer time and money.
At the end of the meeting Matthew distributed the Albany Housing Implementation Plan (June 2023). According to the introduction, “The purpose of the Albany Housing Implementation Plan is to identify a set of policies and tools the City of Albany can implement to facilitate housing development that meets the needs of the community. The HIP prioritizes current and futures housing needs and outlines equitable and actionable policies, strategies and implementation steps necessary to encourage the production of the needed housing”.
While there is much to learn from the Albany experience, the processes they have been able to implement are the result of a developing culture that see the linkage between more housing and economic development.
Our committee continues to discuss topics for the March program. A working concept as of now is:
Developers say its too hard to build affordable housing in Corvallis. If so, what has to change? More to come.
Penny Rosenberg, Regional Editor of the Albany D-H, the Corvallis GT and the Daily will be at our September meeting. Although as she noted, she may be pulled away at the last minute.
A reminder – if you are interested in attending a Housing Committee meeting or want to know more of what we do contact me or attend a zoom meeting. We meet on the 2nd and 4th Thursday 2:00-3:30.