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Subdivision on docket for city planners By Myles Murphy Ashland Daily Tidings The Ashland Planning Commission Tuesday will consider a request for outline plan approval for an 83-lot subdivision across the street from the Mountain Meadows Retirement Community - the largest development yet in the North Mountain Neighborhood Plan area. The commission meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Ashland Civic Center Council Chambers, 1175 E. Main St. The meeting will be carried live on Rogue Valley Community Television Channel 9. City planning staff in general like the proposal, but caution care with such a large development. "A project of this size and scope � is never void of at least a few elements or issues that deserve further evaluation and discussion," a planning staff memo to the commission states. The 16-acre site is located along the west side of North Mountain Avenue, just south of the unimproved section of Nevada Street. It is bordered on the west by Bear Creek. The application calls for a mix of zoning, including a commercial plaza area, single-family housing, more dense housing types and a public park. The land comes under the North Mountain Neighborhood Plan, which was adopted in 1997 after community discussion to guide the development of the area. The plan sets zoning densities, a street network, design standards and public areas. The application includes major amendments to the North Mountain Neighborhood Plan, requests for a waiver of solar access requirements, reductions in rear yard setbacks, and other waivers from the commission. Staff was particularly concerned with the request for a solar access rule waiver. "It is difficult for staff to support this element of the project without further discussion and consideration of mitigating alternatives," a staff memo states, The plan would include paving of part of Nevada Street in the immediate area, but would leave about 550 feet of the dirt road unimproved - another concern for city planning staff. "The burden falls upon the applicant to demonstrate that the remaining unimproved section � is adequate to accommodate the impacts and transportation demands placed upon the facility at the time of the project's full build-out," the staff memo states. One nearby resident, Tom Marr, sent a letter to the commission stating his concerns with the proposal. Many of his points echoed staff concerns, but he was also worried about the impact of the project on local wildlife. "The area � is a major animaltransit corridor," Marr wrote. "This project would force animals to use the freeway to access both Bear Creek and the Mountain Avenue Park protected habitat." About 2.5 of the site's 16 acres are in the Bear Creek flood plain, and all of that land will be donated to the city of Ashland for park and street uses. Two more nearby phases of the Mountain Meadows Retirement Community are planned to be built eventually south of the project along North Mountain Avenue. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -