City Plans Future for 190-Acres of Riverfront

NEWBERG, OR- Two years after planning 300 vacant acres on the East side of town known as Springbrook Oaks, another 190 acres along the Willamette River is being rezoned for a new day by the city.

Mostly filbert orchards and vacant land, the area is zoned industrial but not for long. Economic development chief and planner David Beam says the new plan is for Newberg’s scale version of Portland’s west bank esplanade. Zoning would permit medium-density housing, riverfront-oriented retail activity, restaurants and bed & breakfasts.

The area is already within the city’s urban growth boundary, but has yet to be annexed. The rezoning can’t occur until the area is brought within the city’s borders, but until then it would have some pull with the county as to its use in the meantime.