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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us April 12, 2005 City planners give Northlight the red light By Robert Plain Ashland Daily Tidings Ashland’s planning staff has recommended against the immediate approval of the downtown development project known as Northlight because they say it does not meet the requirements of the city’s Downtown Design and Large-Scale Development Standards. Submitted rendering Northlight, a proposed four-building, 75,183-square-foot, retail, residential and office space complex on the corner of Lithia Way and First Street, will go before the Ashland Planning Commission for the first time tonight at 7 p.m. in the city council chambers. Senior Planner Bill Molnar has issued a report to the commission in which he outlines several reasons why the project, which he said would be “arguably the largest development in the history of Ashland,” should be amended to better fit with Ashland’s zoning laws. “The application represents one of the most significant and, therefore, important redevelopment projects within Ashland’s downtown core of recent history,” wrote Molnar in his report to the commission. “It is critical that a project of this size, scale and scope is thoroughly evaluated in the context of Ashland’s approval criteria and design standards,” he said, “so that the final product complements, rather than overshadows, the architectural fabric established by the pattern of historic buildings. Based upon the issues raised in this report, staff does not believe the application should be approved at this time.” Molnar said there are three issues that should be addressed before the project is approved by the planning commission. First, he said, the availability of required public spaces, as defined in the Large-Scale Development Standards, has not been adequately addressed. Second, recessed entryways and staggered building heights required by the city’s Downtown Design Standards and Large-Scale Development Standards are not included in the project. Third, the traffic report submitted by the applicant does not include the number of potential trips relative to the medical services the applicant says will be located in one of the buildings. Worries about open space “Probably the main reason why we don’t think it’s right is the public space issue,” Molnar said. The Large Scale Development Standards require that projects exceeding 10,000 square feet have at least 1 square foot of public space for every 10 square feet of gross floor space. He said the Northlight project has identified roughly 4,000 square feet of public space areas — far fewer than the necessary 7,518 square feet. Two views of the former Copeland lumber site show that the pavement is starting to give way to weeds and the buildings have fallen out of use. Photos by Orville Hector | Ashland Daily Tidings Russ Dale, who along with Evan Archerd and Hal Dresner is a developer of the project, said he has submitted a new schematic identifying other public-space areas. “What are we really trying to accomplish here?” asked Dale, when asked about the requirements. “We are trying to create some public open space and we’re trying to encourage development in the downtown to deter sprawl. In other words, let’s do what is right for the site. We tried to envision what is in the best interest of the community.” However, Molnar said that some of these areas identified could be discounted because the area was either already identified as a stormwater retention area or an incidental landscape area. “In staff’s opinion,” Molnar wrote in his report, “a significant portion of the area included in the public space does not meet the intent of the designation as described within the Large-Scale Development Standards.” Breaking up the block Molnar also expressed concern that the two buildings that front Lithia Way, which he said are both more than twice as long as the average downtown building, do not contain any architectural features, such as skewed heights or recessed entryways, to allow them to blend into the downtown flavor. Copeland lumber site “This would serve the dual purpose of breaking up the mass and creating an inviting entry feature that can serve as public space,” Molnar said. Dale said that a raised parapet, of approximately 18 inches, on the southern building provides ample distinction between the 140 linear feet of the two buildings’ facades. Another zoning requirement stipulates that all buildings over 10,000 square feet be at least as far away from neighboring buildings as they are high. Although both Lithia Way buildings are 40 feet tall, they are only 26 feet apart from one another. Dale said that because the curvature of the front facades makes them 54 feet from each other at the street, a variance should be granted for the project. “The ultimate goal of this project is to make Ashland a better place to live,” Dale said. “If you look at all the visioning documents they all say they want to make a more healthy, vibrant downtown. We ought to be looking at the big picture. We are not developers, we are community builders.” Traffic concerns Molnar said he would also like the project’s traffic report to accurately portray the average number of vehicle trips associated with medical offices. He said the developer used numbers associated with general office use while medical office use tends to create far more traffic trips than that use. “The traffic engineer used general office numbers and the applicant notes medical uses in their application,” Molnar said. “Medical offices generate much higher levels of traffic than just office. Medical offices tend to bring in a lot more appointments than, say, an accountant does.” Molnar said the applicant’s traffic study noted 400 automobile trips per day whereas his office estimated that number at 766 trips per day. Staff writer Robert Plain can be reached at 482-3456 x 3040 or [email protected]. 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