City Council, October 14th - The Cannery Approvals

That didn't take very long. On the 25th of last month the "Cannery" redevelopment for the former Truitt Bros. site went before the Hearings Officer. The Hearing attracted no opposition and the project was not contested. A few people offered comments or questions on some details, but no substantive objections. Despite it being a complicated project, with the Willamette River Greenway and the railroad bisecting Front Street offering real constraints, the Hearings Officer was able to adopt the Staff Recommendation and approve the project in a straightforward way. At Council on Monday is the approvals as an information item. Since no one raised any great objections at the Hearing, any appeal seems improbable. The smooth sailing was surprising and nice to see!

Along Front Street, looking northwest
(updated project website)

Previously:

• "Questions on the Cannery Proposal" (2023)
• A little, and links to more, on an historical homage, "A Mansard Roof for the Cannery Project"
• On the disposition of surface parking, "Latest Version of Cannery Project Retreats from Walkability, but may offer More Housing"
• On Front Street, "Questions on Front Street"
• "The Cannery Project at the Hearings Officer Tonight"

Part of Condition 15 (options 1 & 2 omitted)

The 10-foot path along the river seems narrow, and the relation between the conceptual design work for the "street improvements" in condition 15 and the $2.7 million RAISE grant has not been explicated. The conceptual design work now adopted will determine elements for the RAISE grant work and narrows its possible outcomes, quite possibly in non-optimal ways. The City really should discuss this relation more. The cart sure looks like it's before the horse here.

Separately, it looks like some kind of strand lumber, mass timber, or other newfangled wood products will be used in the construction and this will be interesting to follow. 

On the whole the project is exciting.

Bullets for the rest:

• Until the City gets a handle on the short-term rentals — the AirBnB problem — the City proposes to carve out an exception for TOT monies. "Travel Salem has requested that the Code be amended so that operators of short term rentals are not...required to collect or remit the 2% fee, nor will they be eligible to object to renewal..." It looks like the owners of short-term rentals could band together and vote out the TOT! This eliminates that possibility.
• There's an update on the bond projects. There did not seem to be anything new here.
• The MU-III zoning has attracted another car dealership, this time on Silverton Road. The evidence piles up that the MU-III zone is misnamed and allows the City to inflate claims about the scope of actual mixed land use.
• There's an Intergovernmental Agreement with ODOT for more ADA curb ramps on State Highways, most of them this time on Mission Street, the Ferry/Trade couplet, and the Commercial/Liberty couplet north.
• And at last month's technical meeting for the MPO, the City shared that the "City of Salem did not receive the Safe Routes for All grant that would have improved pedestrian crossings." You may recall the ambitious list of 19 sites from back in May. Boo!
• Salem Reporter has more on the ambulance transition in, "City councilors to discuss authorizing funding for 60 new emergency medical employees."
  

Addendum, October 15th

Salem Reporter adds more in "Cannery redevelopment project gets green light from city."

The tone on the path and bike connectivity is odd.

The development will have more spaces for bikes than cars, with 439 bicycle parking spaces, and 422 for vehicles — most in a garage....

A greenway path will run the length of the property next to the Willamette River. That will provide space for bikes and pedestrians.

“We just didn’t want to have bikers riding up next to trains and cars,” Michels said.

Though it’s beyond the scope of the project, Michels said he’s hopeful neighboring property owners could eventually extend a greenway path along the river to connect the Front Street corridor to Riverfront Park.

There's just not room on a ten-foot path for a lot of bike traffic and foot traffic, especially if table dining is right there with people having to cross the pathways often. It's great there will be good bike parking, but if there's no connectivity on Front Street, it will be a total island with a bike path to nowhere.

Separately they note "Rogue Brewing has signed a letter of intent to occupy the brewery space."

(Also compare the paint scheme change between the image here and the image at SR! The mansard roof got a lot darker, and more brooding.)