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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us June 28, 2005 The Plaza in downtown Ashland consists of a number of small retailers and eateries, resulting in varied storefronts that give the block a small-town feel. Orville Hector | Ashland Daily Tidings ( see front page printed version ) Building outside the box Big retailers are altering store designs across the country to conform to local ordinances Modified Wal-Mart could adhere to all Ashland restrictions The Wal-Mart Supercenter in Round Rock, Texas , was created as a new prototype store that features a broken plane — different levels of rooftops — that takes the appearance of a number of smaller establishments. The company plans to customize it for different communities. Harry Cabluck | The Associated Press By Robert Plain Ashland Daily Tidings Big-box stores, such as Wal-Mart and other large-scale developments, are adapting to ever more stringent land-use laws. As more and more cities and towns — including Ashland through its so-called “big box” ordinance — try to regulate or eliminate these types of construction projects, developers are being forced to think outside the box. In some cases they have redesigned the box to fit with the flavor of a given community. In others, they are simply splitting the box in two to circumvent maximum building size regulations. In either case, Ashland’s Director of Community Development John McLaughlin said there is little the city could do to prevent this new style development from encroaching on the community. “It is possible that a Wal-Mart could do a series of buildings here,” he said. “It’s a way to dress something that towns don’t necessarily want.” He said there is a fairly new downtown mall in Bend that utilized this design technique to help make the project more palatable to the community. Also, a proposed new Wal-Mart in Eagle Point has considered going with an exterior more in sync with the existing architecture. “Developers are very clever,” he said. “They know people like the feel of a downtown. So instead of putting up a mall, they figured how to make it look like a downtown. But inside it’s still The Gap and Banana Republic and all the places you’d see inside a mall. It softens an ugly concrete box and makes it a pretty concrete box.” Ashland passed its first big box ordinance in 1992 shortly after Albertsons built one of the city’s largest buildings on Ashland Street and Tolman Creek Road. McLaughlin said a citizen advisory group was formed that year that placed a limit on the maximum size of a new building at 45,000 square feet. He said that during the same time period, Wal-Mart was looking into building a store on Washington Street. While Ashland was able to keep the superstore out at the time, he’s not sure, given the new design strategy being employed, if this would still be possible. “There can be a campus of buildings,” he said. Several citizens have expressed concern that Northlight, the proposed development for the Copeland Lumber site, is employing this tactic. Northlight consists, in part, of two large retail, commercial and residential buildings connected by a common basement. Some have said this makes for one building. Others, such as the developer, contend that because the buildings are separate above ground that they are two distinct structures. McLaughlin said the Northlight developers concluded that the multiple-building look “reflects the community’s values” of having several different building fronts in the downtown area. A memorandum from the city attorney said the planning commission could interpret this as either one or two buildings. “From a legal viewpoint, it seems as though each argument is reasonable and is therefore up to the planning commission to decide how to interpret this ordinance.” McLaughlin said the legal and planning process can only accomplish so much. Most of the effort in determining what kind of development comes to town has to be determined by the market. “The key behind all of this is the consumer,” he said, noting that Wal-Marts and other big box developments don’t spread because they manipulate land-use laws but rather because people “like cheap prices.” He said the local economy, not zoning ordinances, is the reason there is no longer a McDonald’s or Pizza Hut in Ashland. “The community said we don’t want those hamburgers,” he said. “They said we don’t want that chain pizza.” Staff writer Robert Plain can be reached at 482-3456 x 3040 or [email protected]. 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