Plans for a 26-lot subdivision with single-family homes are in the works and the existing Millpond Crossing development has asked the city to change its plans, according to a review of active planning and development applications in Philomath.
Those projects along with a few others smaller in scale are also on the horizon.
“It’ll be good to bring much-needed housing to Philomath,” City Manager Chris Workman said. “Everybody I talk to knows somebody who’d like to live here but can’t or is renting and would love to buy but can’t find a house to buy that they can afford. That narrative is still prevalent so we need to continue to find housing.”
Philomath has seen limited opportunities to build.
“We’ve actually seen pretty slow development … we’re still talking to other cities that are growing much faster than us,” Workman said. “Adair Village is getting gobbled up — they’ve got one developer in there that just bought all of the rest of their land that’s available for development, another 300-some houses, so they’re seeing a lot of growth there. Corvallis has two 300-unit subdivisions going in and we’re doing 20 units here, 26 units there, 16 units there, so it’s coming in slowly.”
The Noel Heights subdivision involves a proposal to construct 26 single-family detached homes on less than 7 acres in an area west of Quail Glenn Drive and north of North Seventh Street.
“It’s not a large number of homes — that area’s been empty and undeveloped for a long time,” Workman said. “It’s kind of surrounded on three sides by development already so it’ll be a nice little infill project.”
“There’s a lot of slope out there and there are some constrained lots,” Workman said in a description of the property.
The subdivision application was submitted to the city in late January and is in an open comment period. A public hearing on the application is tentatively scheduled before the Planning Commission on April 21.
City code does not allow construction on slopes that are 30% or greater and even a 20% slope receives careful attention. Workman said a meeting between the city planner and the project’s engineer was to go over those details.
“At first glance, it looked like some of those elevations might be too steep to build on,” Workman said, referring to work completed by City Planner Michael Bidwell. “So they might have to make some adjustments or we might need to get better information submitted to the city. But the main concern (is) making sure that we’re not building on slopes that are too steep.”
Northernwood LLC, one of the companies that falls under the business operations of Philomath’s Sullivan family, owns the land. The subdivision took the name of the applicant, Susannah Noel, who is representing Northernwood.
The property was formerly owned by Allen Lahey. Property records show that it was sold to Northernwood LLC in May 2024 at a price of $399,000. The property is vacant except for an outbuilding that will apparently be removed.
The development’s street configuration shows North Seventh Street ending with a cul-de-sac and an extension of Quail Glenn Drive up to Fawn Lane.
Millpond Crossing modifications
The developer of the ongoing and often delayed Millpond Crossing project in the southern section of Philomath north of Chapel Drive and east of South 15th Street has applied for a minor modification to current plans.
Workman said that change involves the construction of units on the south end of the development along with a community park as part of a revised Phase 3, which would be built side-by-side as part of two subphases. Then Phase 4 would follow with everything north and east of the new park along with the northern half of 17th Street.
“They’re not changing the number of units, they’re not changing the long-term street access or anything,” Workman said. “Instead, he’s going to do all the southern stuff first along Chapel Drive … get all of the storm(water) in, do the park and do all the townhomes along the southern part first. Then he’ll do Timothy and connect up to the existing 17th Street (on the north end).”
With the requests, none of the triggers kick in that would define the changes as major. Thus, they are defined as minor and Planning Commission approval is not needed.
“If it’s just zoning and ‘we’re doing this first instead of this first,’ the code considers that a minor modification and it’s just a planning official level approval,” Workman explained. “That just got submitted and is being reviewed by the planner right now and the engineer looks at it.”
A major component that the planner and engineer will consider is making sure that the necessary infrastructure plans remain in place with any changes related to phases.
The project is currently in Phase 2B and the city has conditions in place before that section is considered to be completed, including the approval of stormwater drainage plans that are currently under review.
“Once those get the final approval, he’s just going to schedule that storm work for two 30-inch pipes that have to go essentially the length of the property from north all the way down to Chapel Drive,” Workman said.
The purchase of those pipes apparently comes with a four- to five-week delivery delay from the supplier. Once those are in the ground and covered, Workman said, then a ditch that’s currently behind homes on the north side of Timothy Street (with backyards facing Willow Lane) will be filled in and a retaining wall constructed.
Another requirement is the paving of South 16th Street between Timothy Street and Chapel Drive. That is scheduled to occur next week on March 13-14.
A number of other punchlist-type items will also need to be completed before the development moves to Phase 3. However, Workman said that if certain work has been scheduled and contractors paid, then the project would not be significantly held up from progressing.
“We don’t want to sit on Phase 3 for another six weeks waiting for that pipe to come in and we’ll start conversations with him about it but we won’t be issuing approvals or anything else until all of the Phase 2 work is done,” Workman said. “That’s what I committed to and that’s actually what his current agreement states — that he has to have all of that infrastructure addressed before he moves into Phase 3.”
Several infrastructure-related agreements will be in place for Phase 3A and Phase 3B regarding the timing of when building permits and later on, certificates of occupancy, would be issued.
“It’s getting reviewed as one package but it’s being constructed in two phases,” Workman said. “Phase 3A infrastructure will get done first, he’ll start building homes, he’ll move over to Phase 3B infrastructure and once that’s all approved, then we can start having people live in the homes. So all Phase 3 infrastructure, including the park and Chapel Drive, will be in before anybody’s living in those homes.”
The new park’s current design features a sports court, playground equipment for toddlers and bigger kids, a small pavilion, picnic table, bike rack, park bench and public restrooms.
PLANNING APPLICATIONS The city’s website features a page dedicated to active planning applications and developments, including a map that shows locations of the various projects. The page is located at www.ci.philomath.or.us/planningapplications.
Other housing projects on horizon
Elsewhere, the city recently approved the site design review of a project that will see the construction of four two-story fiveplexes on lots at the corner of South 19th Street and Chapel Drive. Workman said that the project will not go before the Planning Commission with staff-level approval only needed.
City code requires that neighbors that live within a 250-foot radius of the project site have the opportunity to provide comments about any concerns or information involving agreements that could be in place (for example, private easements or water lines that may be unknown to the city).
Following the completion of the comment period, a staff report will get finalized and the developer will receive a final decision. If everything is in place, then the project would receive the green light to move forward.
A cottage cluster project with 16 housing units on the west side of South 15th Street across from the Millpond Crossing development is currently in the site design phase. The City Council approved the annexation of the 1.59-acre property and rezoning to high-density residential in November. There currently are no active applications related to that project in the hands of the city.
The city continues to work on code changes, Workman added, which will address residential developments. Among those is allowing smaller lots and smaller homes.
“That’s just a direct reflection on the cost of living,” Workman said. “You can’t get out of college and get a job and buy a 2,800-square-foot house anymore, it’s just way too expensive. So we’re going to see more 1,400-square-foot houses and 1,600-square-foot houses.”
On a side note, the recreational vehicle park that’s under construction on the east side of North 19th Street near the railroad tracks just recently received a permit to build its office building, which will include a second floor to serve as manager’s quarters. A recreational center, restrooms, landscaping and paving will also be going in.
