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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 13, 2005 Out of space? Home prices shoot up as infill eats most remaining developable land By Jennifer Squires Ashland Daily Tidings TALENT Six months ago, developer Scott Goings was selling lots next to Wagner Creek for $55,000 to $65,000. This month, similar parcels in the same development go for $85,000 to $110,000. Since the moratorium on new houses in Talent was lifted in 2002, 367 new homes have been approved, and more than half of those are already finished. Photo by Orville Hector | Ashland Daily Tidings “I believe we were a little low when we came onto the market, but things have been moving fast,” said Goings, who has been in development since 1972. “I have never ever in my lifetime seen the market move so quickly.” Goings Homes will build the 53-home Old Bridge Village project along the creek, just off of Talent Avenue. So far, 22 of the 41 single-family homes have been sold, although not all of them have been built yet. Since a five-year construction moratorium was lifted in 2002, 367 new housing units have been approved inside the city limits, according to a March 29 count by Talent City Planner John Adam. Of those, 153 have been completed and another 180, including the Old Bridge development, are in progress. Two developments totaling 62 housing units, Kamerin Springs and phase 4 of Mountain Park Estates, have yet to break ground. “It just changed Talent immediately,” said John Stough, who owns the Talent Cafe and has lived in town for 8 1/2 years. “Talent is just growing. Some people don’t like to see it and others do. From a business standpoint, it’s good.” Adam expects the frenzied building will slow as the open land with easy street access is built on. Other areas, such as land across the railroad tracks off of Belmont Road, will take more time to develop because city infrastucture — roads, water, sewer and power — will have to be expanded to reach the area. “Suddenly Talent became available,” Adam said. “Most of the development we’ve been seeing is infill and not really pushing at the edges, yet.” However, the population influx and decline of open spaces within the city limits rattles some long-time Talent residents. The population has ballooned from 7,487 in 2000 to 8,590 in July 2004. “It’s inevitable, I guess,” said Arnie Gross, who has lived in Talent for 15 years. “But the direction it’s taken, it put pressure on a lot of people who’ve lived here for a long time.” Gross explained some people in town understand the nature of growth while others don’t believe Talent needs new homes on what used to be pasture land and open spaces. They can remember when Talent’s population rounded out under 500 people and most of the property along Highway 99 were fields. Edwin Hanson is one of those guys. Hanson came to Talent 54 years ago and has lived in the same house on Front Street since 1959. He’d go to the planning commission meetings to voice his opinion, but he has a hard time hearing even with hearing aids. Instead, he grumbles about growth with buddies, including Gross, and stays around downtown, where new houses aren’t sprouting out of the ground. “I hate every one of them. These developers, they fly around like buzzards and when they see a little piece of land, they snap it up,” Hanson said, grabbing at the air with his hands. The city of Talent was forced to completely halt growth in February 1997 due to a lack of water resources. The two-year freeze ended in the winter of 1999. It was replaced with the a public facilities strategy with the same growth moratorium, but an added requirement that the city show that progress has been made to prepare public facilities for resumed development. After city officials teamed with Ashland and Phoenix on the Talent-Ashland-Phoenix Intertie project (TAP) that connected with the Medford Water Service District, the construction ban was lifted in 2002. Good for business Twice a month, developers approach the Talent Planning Commission with plans for the few vacant lots left inside city limits. On March 24 it was Michael LaNier and Evan Archerd answering questions about a proposed 7.52-acre mixed-use development on Highway 99 at Suncrest Road that would include 64 new housing units. “Since the opened the moratorium up, I think the city’s been just inundated with everybody,” Goings said. “Talent’s going to grow, there’s no doubt about it.” The growth has upped home prices in the city as well. In April 2003, the median sale price in Talent was $148,742, an 11 percent increase over April of 2002. New homes run between $200,000 to $400,000 now, according to developers, and continue to rise. “Talent would be the third most expensive (place to live) in the Valley,” said developer George Cota, citing Ashland and Jacksonville as the most costly. “You’re not building those half-million dollar homes, but what you’re selling there is costing a lot.” Cota, who operates Cota Construction out of Ashland, has put 22 three-bedroom, two-bath homes on Meadowslope Drive and has another nine-unit phase in the works this summer. When the first houses went up, they were selling for about $260,000. Now, similar homes go for $360,000. “It’s been real good,” Cota said. “I’ve got people standing in line, bugging me for these next nine units and I haven’t even built them yet.” Staff writer Jennifer Squires can be reached at 482-3456 x 3019 or [email protected]. 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