Astoria presentation flags limited developable land, infrastructure barriers as housing pressure grows

Steve Faust, a community planning director for 3 j Consulting, told the Astoria City Council on March 3 that a county-led buildable lands inventory (BLI) shows about 1,600 gross acres in the city but that constraints—steep slopes, floodplain, wetlands and other exclusions—reduce realistic developable acreage to roughly 259 acres of vacant buildable land plus about 42 acres of partially vacant unconstrained land, or roughly 300 acres total.

Faust said the inventory follows state rules and that the BLI removes parcels smaller than 3,000 square feet from the vacant category and parcels smaller than a quarter acre from the partially vacant category. He cautioned that “paper capacity” can overstate how much land is truly developable because many vacant parcels are isolated by undevelopable land and lack road or sewer access. “A lot of the land is, while under the rules, appears to be vacant, really, it’s quite unlikely that a lot of the land will ever be developed,” he said.

The consultant also outlined infrastructure limitations that constrain development. Water treatment capacity is projected to reach its limit in about five years, and the city’s wastewater network cannot accommodate substantial new development in parts of east and northeast Astoria, including Blue Ridge and Tongue Point, without costly capital work. Jeff, identified in the meeting as the city’s director of public works, said older sewer connections once tied to a now‑abandoned federal treatment facility near Tongue Point lack the capacity needed for additional development and that proposed private sewer upgrades have not been built.

Faust reviewed housing-supply findings from census and local data: owner-occupied housing comprises roughly 52% of units, renters about 48%, and about half of renter households are cost‑burdened (paying 30% or more of income for housing). He noted an error in a chart shown at the meeting and said the final report will correct figures and provide clearer tables.

The presentation included the state’s 20‑year housing allocations for Astoria: about 1,800 units total, with 667 units at 0–30% area median income (AMI), 434 at 31–60% AMI, 165 at 61–80% AMI, 262 at 81–120% AMI and 307 above 120% AMI. Faust said cities must complete a housing capacity analysis (scheduled for 2027) and a housing production strategy (expected in 2028) that will translate those allocations into site, zoning and infrastructure actions.

Councilors asked for more local refinement of the draft inventory. Councilor Davis urged staff to “ground truth” the maps and identify how many of the 300 acres are realistically developable. Councilor Mozzarella and others pressed for clearer counts of parcels that are effectively inaccessible or in slide-prone areas; Faust and staff agreed to add landslide and slope detail and to provide higher‑resolution maps.

Public commenters urged faster action and alternative tools. Andy Kipp, president of the Astoria Housing Alliance, thanked the project team and called for collaboration to address the affordability crisis. Other residents asked the council to consider vacancy taxes, deed restrictions to preserve affordability, expanded accessory dwelling unit (ADU) policy, and cooperative ownership models that could convert second homes or underused units into long‑term housing.

Several councilors said meeting the state allocation will likely require substantial policy changes—relaxing parking minimums, increasing allowable density, prioritizing projects such as Copeland Commons, and identifying funding for large infrastructure projects. Councilor Davis noted that achieving the allocation of roughly 142 units per year (an average the report implies) will require much faster project delivery and greater capital investment than current pipelines provide.

Next steps the consultant outlined include refining the BLI maps using staff and community input, adding detailed overlays for landslide and slope risk, correcting chart errors in the draft report, and preparing a concise executive summary to accompany final draft reports. Councilors identified a need to coordinate with the county and state for funding options and to begin discussions on zoning and program tools that would make targeted development feasible.

The council did not take formal votes on policy changes at the March 3 meeting; Faust said the team will return updated materials and that the city’s upcoming housing capacity analysis and production strategy will be the vehicle for specific regulatory and funding proposals.