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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 29, 2005 Downtown plan to be outsourced By Robert Plain Ashland Daily Tidings Ashland will hire a private planning firm by the end of July to oversee the updates to its downtown plan, John McLaughlin, director of community development, told the planning commission on Tuesday night. The city council has put out a request for qualifications for an outside company to aid Ashland in updating the plan that governs the future of downtown. “We’re getting a lot of responses from up and down the West Coast,” said McLaughlin. In February, the planning department began a public meeting process intended to update the 1988 downtown plan. But when the meetings began attract a wide range of somewhat contentious participation, the city determined that more progress could be made by outsourcing the job to a private company. Some ideas for the plan that have been discussed by Ashlanders so far include making the downtown more pedestrian friendly, creating more parking and possibly even making East Main Street and Lithia Way both two-way roads. The scope and scale of the updates has not been determined, said McLaughlin. He told the commission the private company would help the city determine how much it should try to tackle in this process. They will also assist the city in the actual updating of the plan. Eventually, the city council will have to vote on whether to approve the updated plan. The council is slated to choose a firm on July 26. Staff writer Robert Plain can be reached at 482-3456 x 3040 or [email protected]. 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 Generic Viagra Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Sportsbook Absinthe Supply Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations African Safari Hammocks Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino King of Spirits ink cartridges Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams