The Albany City Council is scheduled to vote Wednesday on commercial and industrial land-use policies to guide the city in the future.

The council meets at 7:15 p.m. at city hall.

The council is expected to adopt an ordinance amending the comprehensive plan to reflect its decision.

Last October, the council and planning commission received an Economic Opportunities Analysis Update by a land use and environmental planning firm comparing what representatives said the city needed for future commercial and industrial sites with what land was available within the city’s urban growth boundary.

“The question is do we want to keep the same goals and policies in place that say we will provide the commercial and industrial sites needed or should we adopt different goals and policies that would send the city in a different direction,” said Planning Manager Don Donovan.

“We need to do this update because so many people in Albany are concerned about economic development,” he said.

Driving the discussion too is the projection that Albany will gain at least 15,000 residents over the next 20 years. They will need places to work and conduct business.

The economic update prepared primarily by ECO Northwest indicated that Albany would need between 225 and 340 acres of industrial and commercial sites to accommodate the new businesses necessary to serve those people.

Currently, the city has a number of sites that meet a portion of Albany’s short- and long-term development goals, Donovan said. To meet future needs, the city can either redesignate residential land within the existing urban growth boundary or extend the boundary.

If the council decides to set aside larger building sites, the recommendation is to:

Designate one very large industrial site in the 120-acre to 150-acre range and designate one or two large industrial sites in the 20-acre to 50-acre range, including a business park site.

Also designate one or two large commercial sites in the 20-to-50-acre range for community shopping centers or large format retail; designate one to two medium industrial sites in the 5-to-20-acre range for smaller manufacturing uses; and one medium commercial site in the 5-to-20-acre range for health services and larger neighborhood retail.