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Board pulls 3 Oaks Pond repurposing item, asks staff to reprioritize stormwater projects
Summary
Staff had proposed grading and piping 3 Oaks Pond and repurposing it as a small community park; several commissioners said using stormwater funds for recreation is poor optics and asked staff to return with a prioritized list of stormwater projects and funding availability.
City staff briefed the Albany Utility Board on a plan to grade and pipe 3 Oaks Pond (located at Pheasant and Meadowlark) so the site — about 1.5 acres — could be repurposed for community use. The work would follow a prior diversion that routed drainage to Lake Cornelia and would involve pipe extensions and filling ditches, based on design work by Lanier Engineering.
Several commissioners objected to using stormwater funds for what some described as a recreational amenity rather than a stormwater remediation. Commissioners said higher-priority stormwater projects remain (notably in South Madison and Valencia neighborhoods), and asked staff to provide a prioritized project list and available funding before advancing the 3 Oaks item to the commission. One board member said, "This is a recreation project...we're using stormwater funds for recreation purpose," and others agreed the optics were problematic.
Staff acknowledged those concerns, said the Lanier Engineering design sought to avoid recreating drainage problems, and agreed to pull the item and return with a prioritization schedule and updated budget availability. The board did not vote to authorize the project; staff will bring a revised project prioritization back to the board for further consideration.
