Corvallis residential neighborhoods (Eugene, Green, Philomath: apartment complexes, house, movie theater)

[AlohaAnn]

Hello. I'd like to hear what you like about your neighborhood in Corvallis. I'm going to visit to research relocating there and I plan to take city buses through neighborhoods to get a feel for them. I'm nearing retirement and will have to stop driving at some point. Thank you for any info you might provide.

[Steve McDonald]

The Corvallis public bus service if free of charge, but doesn't run on Sundays or after 7:00 pm. There is a special set of routes that runs during the evening and early morning, but only when Oregon State University is in session (not during the summer or vacations between terms.) If you live in many neighborhoods, you may have to do some walking to get to a bus stop.

Eugene has a much more extensive transit system and if you're over 65, you can get a free pass. The Corvallis I remember from my college days, was ultra-conservative and not much like the very liberal Eugene. Take that into consideration about where you want to live.

[jjpop]

Originally Posted by Steve McDonald

The Corvallis public bus service if free of charge, but doesn't run on Sundays or after 7:00 pm. There is a special set of routes that runs during the evening and early morning, but only when Oregon State University is in session (not during the summer or vacations between terms.) If you live in many neighborhoods, you may have to do some walking to get to a bus stop.

Eugene has a much more extensive transit system and if you're over 65, you can get a free pass. The Corvallis I remember from my college days, was ultra-conservative and not much like the very liberal Eugene. Take that into consideration about where you want to live.

I don’t know when your college days were, but I lived in Corvallis from the mid 90s to the mid 00s after living a stint in Eugene for grad school and Corvallis was hardly “ultra conservative”. In fact, when I lived in Eugene the mayor was republican (Jim Torrey), while during my time in Corvallis there was at least one Green Party city councilor.

The OSU campus is certainly populated by more forestry and ag majors who may be more conservative than the average UO student, but that absolutely did not translate to ultra conservative outside of campus.

[AlohaAnn]

Thank you, Steve. Very helpful info.

[PNW-type-gal]

If you will be needing rides to medical appointments, here is the link to the Corvallis "Dial-A-Ride" service:
https://www.co.benton.or.us/publicwo...ation-services

I don't think we have any posters in the area who have experience with that service, so I don't know how reliable it is.

[AlohaAnn]

Thank you Ms. PNW.

[RonB.]

Well, I can say rather a lot about Corvallis neighborhoods. First, about transportation. Corvallis is not really such a big city at all. I can ride my bike across town in 15 or 20 minutes, no problem, You can take buses, sure, but they run mostly along main boulevards, like 9th street, Kings blvd, and Monroe. An excellent way to check out the neighborhoods with minimal effort is to use Google Maps. You can take virtual tours up and down most any street of the city.

Okay, second thing about neighborhoods is understanding how the city is spread out. Starting with the downtown, it's situated right along the Willamette river. Streets are numbered 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and so on starting from the river and moving out across the city. Perpendicular streets that cross the numbered streets are named after US presidents, starting with Washington, and going to Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and so forth out to Cleveland, Harrison, and beyond. Highway 99 runs directly through stop light traffic downtown, with 3rd street going north, and 4th street going south.

Decades ago when Interstate 5 was in the planning stage, there was a proposal to put it through Corvallis. Glad that didn't happen. Highway 99 is much more historic and preferable to I5 in my opinion. The downtown is mostly old brick buildings, 2 or 3 stories high, and well maintained. There is an abundant tree canopy in the downtown area and in nearby neighborhoods.

There is a promenade along the river downtown, and farmers markets happen there on Saturdays and Wednesdays. Lots of farmers round here, so most of the produce is local to the valley, and much is organic. Good shops downtown too; my favorite food stop is the New Morning Bakery.

You'll find a nice grassy park downtown just off 5th and Monroe, with benches and play areas for kids, and a bandstand for concerts. Summer features concerts in the park every Tuesday night at 8 pm; classical, jazz, and more contemporary music as well. The public library is just across from the park, and being a librarian myself I'm impressed both with the facilities and the book collections. Oregon State University is just a few blocks walk from the downtown.

Going up Monroe avenue runs along the edge of the University and you will find plenty of restaurants and coffee shops. The University campus itself consists mostly of historic brick buildings, grassy landscapes and plenty of trees.

Now, the north end of Corvallis runs along 9th street for a couple miles from downtown, and is the main drag for big box stores and shopping. There is a Trader Joes, a Market of Choice (upscale groceries), BiMart (drug/department store), a lumber yard, restaurants, and so forth. Just off of 9th there are a couple shopping complexes, including a Home Depot Store and 2 movie theater locations.

Farther up 9th avenue at the end of town is Samaritan hospital, the largest medical facility in Corvallis. Other shopping venues include the employee owned supermarket Winco, at the end of Kings boulevard, and Fred Meyer, in the middle of Kings Boulevard. If you like organic foods check out the First Alternative Coop, which is a few blocks off King's boulevard up Grant Avenue; there is also a location in south town.

As for residential neighborhoods, Corvallis has much classic wooden housing and almost all of it is well maintained. People frequently grow vegetable gardens in their front yards, or showcase blooming flowers; there is a lot of pride taken in gardening around here. Less attractive are a number of apartment complexes, mostly housing student populations. About 1/2 of the city residents are students. Most of the neighborhoods have mature tree canopies, and along many streets the trees meet in the middle giving lovely shade during hot summer days. There are also many parks throughout residential neighborhoods. And schools, both a high school and several grammar schools are in residential areas on the north end of town.

So far I've described the downtown and north Corvallis, but there is the South end of town as well. The south end of town developed along highway 99 and has much industrial development as well as retail businesses. Side streets have apartment complexes, and old wooden homes. Hoping this give you a better idea of Corvallis neighborhoods.

[AlohaAnn]

Ron, thank you for your kind and thorough reply. I am relieved and happy to read how lovely and how easy to get around Corvallis is. The thought of uprooting from my hometown has been stressful. Corvallis sounds like a very nice place to resettle. We are planning a scouting trip to include Corvallis. I suspect it may be our first choice.


Incidentally, I served as a reference technician before the Recession sliced library budgets here. I loved the work. I was a secretary / researcher to three librarians who answered questions sent to us by other libraries. We had a ten-day turnaround, so the extra time allowed researching tough questions thoroughly. I became the ready-reference researcher. You need a wiring diagram or a musical score, I can probably find it....



Many thanks for writing, Ron.

[BruceM]

We moved to the SW side of Corvallis, south of Hwy 20, AKA Philomath Blvd and west of the Marys River in what is called the old Country Club subdivision just off Brooklane Dr.
We love it here and are so glad we chose this part of town.
We are within easy biking distance of downtown and the university yet far enough away that we are not bothered by drunken students.
Our neighborhood has some hills which are good for our "power walks" but our street, Long Ave, is in a flat area making it perfect for easy access to the bike paths.
The neighbors are friendly but best of all we do not have an active home owners association so we can pretty much plant what we want in our yards.
Our house had a manicured front yard when we bought the place 11 years ago but we soon planted fig trees, flowering annuals and vegetables. We love watching all the pollinators coming to our yard.
There are 5 parks within walking/biking distance: Willamette Park with a leash free area that runs for a couple miles along the river, Starker Arts Park with community gardens and Sunset Park right next to it with a beaver pond and raised walkway, beautiful old Avery Park with it's rose garden and pavilions that can be rented for parties, and the Marys River Natural Area which will soon have a bridge across the Marys to the Caldwell Natural Area.