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Middle
East conflict hits close to home
Pulitzer Prize-winner paints sad picture
of journalism in America
Saving Jacqui's smile
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The future of Austin land? |
A plan that could be decades in the
making predicts a mixed-use village |
By Gunnar Olson, Newberg Graphic
reporter
E-mail Gunnar at golson@eaglenewspapers.com |
Imagine, 20 years from now: A mixed-use
village in the heart of Oregon wine country, within the city of
Newberg. Welcome to Springbrook Village.
Shop at one
of the retail stores. Relax at the village green. Dine at one of the
restaurants.
After a meal or a spending spree, residents can return home to
one of the hundreds of new houses, townhouses and condos in the
area.
Visitors, after a day touring the wineries, or a round of golf at
nearby Chehalem Glenn Golf Course, can stay the night at the
Springbrook Village resort.
That could be the future for the old town of Springbrook, which is
inside present-day Newberg and concentrated around the intersection
of Mountainview Drive and Springbrook Road. Perhaps the most visible
remnant of old Springbrook is the old brick school house off
Springbrook Road.
At the very least, the above is an unauthorized version of the
vision of Ken and Joan Austin, founders of Newberg-based
dental-equipment manufacturer A-dec Inc., for 430 acres of their
land along the Mountainview corridor.
The details were drawn from a letter sent in April to the Newberg
Planning Department, a copy of which was obtained by this newspaper
after it heard renewed rumors of the Austins planning to build a
hotel.
The letter specifically addresses the Austins’ vision for their
undeveloped property. It says the family is in the process of
developing a master plan for the area, but points out that the
vision is a work in progress and subject to change.
Family spokeswoman Sonja Haugen stressed the solubility of the
concepts.
“Based on our best guess at that point, if we were to build the
property, as the letter says, with the existing zoning, that’s what
would be generated,” Haugen said by phone Wednesday.
However, she added, the Austins have no definite plans at this
point.
The Austins have started working with WRG Design Inc., a planning
firm with an office in Portland whose work includes the Hillsboro
Stadium, to develop their master plan. WRG Design produced the
letter to the city.
However preliminary the concept, the letter offers a glimpse into
Newberg’s possible future. Few people have as much ability to
influence the shape the city takes in the coming decades as the
Austins. For no one, according to City Planner Barton Brierley, owns
more undeveloped property in Newberg than they do.
The Austins, speaking via Haugen, declined to offer any more
specifics on their vision for their property. But they said they
would be sharing more once the plans were closer to being finalized.
“We look forward to sharing our vision with the community once we
are further along in the planning process,” they said in a statement
e-mailed by Haugen. “We hope to be ready to do so after the first of
the year.”
The Austins offered the letter at the request of the Ad Hoc
Committee for Newberg’s Future. As its name suggests, the committee
was developing a 20-year vision for the approximately 2,000 acres of
undeveloped land in Newberg. It asked the Austins — whose property,
according to Brierley, accounts for 20 percent of the land the
committee was considering — for their long-term vision of their
property.
The letter gives no timeline, but it offers several specific
possibilities for developing the land:
— Approximately 1,000 to 1,300 dwelling units on approximately 320
acres of residential (R-1 and R2), in addition to 22 acres of
residential development outside the urban growth boundary.
The Austin property “is expected to be a mixture of densities
including single-family detached homes, townhouses and condominiums,
but all homes will be for-sale units,” the letter reads. It notes:
“No apartments are anticipated.”
— Six to 10 acres of “mixed-use village commercial.”
— Approximately 35 acres for a resort or hospitality facility.
— Approximately 10 acres of “mixed use” and 30 to 35 acres of
“employment/mixed use.”
The letter further explains: “At the core of the Austin property,
the family envisions a mixed-use village center, designed to
incorporate some of the historic features of the old town of
Springbrook. This village will contain a mixture of uses, including
retail, restaurants and a village green. The Austin’s (sic) intend
to set aside approximately 36 acres for an inn or resort.”
This is not the first time the Austins have had a mind to build a
village center and hotel. They’ve been considering such a
development on that land for at least 17 years. The city of Newberg
in March 1988 created a new zoning district that cleared the way for
the Austins to realize a familiar-sounding development, according to
city documents and Brierley.
Brierley said the city didn’t apply the zoning district to the
Austins’ land at that time, but with the understanding that the
Austins would be utilizing the district; the city even named it the
Springbrook District. A copy of the 1988 ordinance shows that, among
other things, the district allowed for a mixture of residential,
industrial and commercial, as well as for a destination resort, inn
or the like.
Ten months later, in January 1989, the Austins unveiled a first
draft of a master plan for the property, according to an article in
The Graphic. Then as now, the Austins were considering a “’country
inn’ type facility.” In the following months the city and a citizens
group held several public meetings to discuss concerns about the
development.
In July 1989, the city of Newberg gave the Austins the go-ahead to
build the inn. But, as Haugen said, “We chose not to move forward at
that time.”
A similar chain of events has been set in motion for the Austins’
vision for the property this time around.
The Committee on Newberg’s Future, which met from April 2004 to
June 2005, recommended in July that the city rezone a piece of the
Austins’ property from industrial to commercial, which would allow a
hotel or resort, Brierley said. Haugen, who is the general manager
of Austin Industries, a holding company for A-dec Inc., was on the
committee.
Elaine Taylor, an associate planner with the city who was a staff
coordinator of the committee, said the committee’s recommendation
wasn’t specifically to accommodate the Austins’ vision. She said the
Austins’ idea for the land “was consistent with the direction the
committee was going.”
The ad hoc committee’s recommendations, including the proposed
change to the Austin property, will go through a series of public
meetings before the city decides whether to adopt them. Brierley
said it would likely be two years before any of the recommendations
were made into an ordinance.
The ad hoc committee’s recommendations will be one of the topics
discussed at the upcoming Community Night, set for 6:30 p.m. Oct. 18
at Newberg High School. |
|
From Oct.
8,
2005, Newberg Graphic
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