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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us October 11, 2005 Home Depot a big step closer Phoenix Planning Commission gives unanimous approval; project expected to revitalize Fern Valley Road interchange By Buffy Pollock for the Tidings PHOENIX — Despite lingering concerns over added traffic that a 103,000-square-foot Home Depot building would bring to the failing Fern Valley Road interchange, planning commission members approved a site plan Monday to allow the project to move forward. Unanimous approval came after two hours of discussion. While the store will inevitably add traffic, city planners and developers reasoned, the malfunctioning intersection would take years longer to fix without funding being offered by Home Depot. Planning commission members approved plans for the store with a handful of minor adjustments regarding traffic, parking spaces and landscaping. The 103,000-square-foot store will adjoin a 28,000-square-foot fenced garden center. Four entrances will access the development, which will be subdivided into four parcels for eventual development of adjoining businesses such as a hotel and restaurants. Construction of the building will be concrete “tilt up” style in which walls are poured and raised, with a 28-foot roof height, aside from a 38-foot facade over the main entrance. Phoenix resident Doug Mason was one of a half dozen people who said building designs were the least of his concerns. Mason had no qualms about Home Depot coming to town, but said he had grave concerns about traffic and access for emergency services. Mason said traffic concerns that led to an appeal by ODOT last December to the State Land Use Board of Appeals had not been resolved. “Unless you have a specific date about when (the interchange) is going to be corrected, I don’t see how you are any farther than you were a year ago,” Mason stated. Talent resident Gary Woodren cautioned that the “lag time” between approval of the project and possible realignment of the interchange would ensure hazardous conditions. Road rage, he said, is “on its way and you can stop it!” Resident Steve Brown cautioned that completion of the interchange would take up to three years longer than completion of the store. He worried about emergency services reaching the east side of the freeway. “We already told you that if we don’t get emergency services, we’re gonna hold you accountable,” he warned. Glenn Amster, an attorney for Home Depot, said there were misconceptions about what the time line for the interchange project would be without the Home Depot project. “The bottom line here is that without Home Depot, there is no interchange,” said Amster. All told, Home Depot is contributing just over $1 million — along with funds from the city of Phoenix, Jackson County and other sources — toward $7 million of local funding for the $40 highway project. City planner Denis Murray said, “the sooner we build this thing, the better off we’re all (going to) be. “First proposed in March 2004, City Council approved rezoning the 19-acre piece of former agricultural land to “commercial highway” in December 2004. The Oregon Department of Transportation appealed the decision weeks later due to uncertainties of funding and timing for the interchange rebuild. Home Depot spokesman Brian Cannard guessed on Monday that ODOT and developers were “within a week or so,” of doing away with the appeal to LUBA and finalizing an agreement to contribute financially to the highway project. Without further appeal, the store would begin construction within four to five months and open for business by winter 2006. Reconstruction of the Fern Valley Road interchange would go out to bid in 2007 and see construction by 2008. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Online Pharmacy Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations Hammocks Water Filter Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams