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http:// --> Ashland, Oregon HOME Valley & State Sports Nation & World Opinion/Editorial Classifieds Business Columnists Local Issues Obituaries Weather Archive Revels Etcetera Backpage Hot Topics Most Viewed Forum Photo Galleries Video Readers Polls O-Zone Online Games Movie Preview Special Sections Real Estate Guide Menu Guide Shakespeare Subscribe Contact Us Rate Card Place an Ad Featured Galleries: March 12, 2007 Railroad district project returns By Robert Plain Ashland Daily Tidings Russ Dale's Falcon Heights project, a mixed-use building near Williamson Way in the Railroad District, comes back to the Ashland Planning Commission on Tuesday night reduced by one floor in an attempt to work out differences with neighbors. Dale, an Ashland developer, first brought the project to the planning commission in 2005. At that time, it was a three-floor project that needed a variance because of the ratio of building size to site size. It has been scaled back to a 7,762 square-foot building with 3,500 square feet of commercial space downstairs and 3,842 of residential space on the second floor. Ashland planning staff feel the reduction in size makes the project more compatible with the neighborhood, and local planning rules. "Staff believes that the reduction in the proposed building's size from three stories to two, and the associated reduction in overall mass mitigate many of the concerns that were raised in the previous application," reads a report written by a staff planner. "However the landscaping installed provides insufficient screening to buffer the impact of the parking lot to the residences to the north." Dale hopes to mitigate that concern as well. On March 1, David Stalheim, Ashland's planning director, organized a neighborhood meeting to address concerns of the project's neighbors. "A lot of progress was made," said Allyn Stone, who lives on Williamson Way behind the Falcon Heights proposal. "I'm glad the planning director got us together." She said several potential solutions have been discussed between the 15 neighbors who attended the meeting and Dale. "I don't know that it can ever be a good situation," she said. "But there is a sense that progress is being made." The Falcon Heights building would be located very close to some houses on Williamson Way and, furthermore, sits several feet higher than that residential neighborhood. Because of this, Williamson Way residents fear that cars parked outside that building will be obtrusive to their privacy. "Staff concurs with the neighbors that fencing may be a more effective solution given the grade change between the parking lot and the residential rear yards to the north," reads the staff report. Stone said several new potential solutions have been discussed between the neighbors and Dale since the staff report was written. The report says staff is "generally supportive of the proposal" but "the planning commission will ultimately need to determine whether the proposed design sufficiently addresses" Ashland's land-use requirements. The planning commission will also hear a request to convert 10 existing apartments at 117 Garfield Street into ten condominiums. Staff writer Robert Plain can be reached at 482-3456 x. 226 or [email protected] . Leave a Comment: Advertisement: Advertisement: Paid Advertising: Debt Help Inkjet Printers Payday Loans Free Ringtones Debt Consolidation Security Systems Debt Relief New Hampshire Primary Advertisement: Copyright © 2007 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers. All Rights Reserved. Del.icio.us