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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us May 13, 2005 Planning, parks get budget OK By Vickie Aldous Ashland Daily Tidings The Ashland Citizens' Budget Committee recommended approval of a Community Development Department budget that includes two new positions to handle increasingly time-intensive development applications. The recommendation made on Wednesday night marks a major step toward the eventual approval by the Ashland City Council of a nearly $2.29 million 2005-2006 fiscal year budget for the community development department. The total budget is actually down from the $2.46 million 2004-2005 fiscal year budget because smaller federal grants for affordable housing are being passed through the department on their way to non-profit groups that create housing. An operations audit of the department's planning division likely will be completed in September. That audit will probably show a need for more staff, so funding for two possible new positions is being included in the 2005-2006 budget, according to Community Development Department Director John McLaughlin. The planning division is spending more time on complicated projects, many of which must meet new city rules concerning construction on hills, tree protection, maximum house sizes in city historic districts and other issues, he said. “As we adopt new ordinances, the level of review becomes more complex. The nature of projects also is that they are becoming larger and more complex,” McLaughlin said. Land use actions that previously were handled through one meeting of the Ashland Planning Commission now take two to three meetings. Planning division staff also spend more time researching issues and answering questions from the public and the city council, he said. Also Wednesday night, the budget committee recommended approval of a $7.74 million Parks and Recreation Department budget. The parks budget is up from $6.78 million in the current fiscal year, largely due to a $632,225 increase in materials and services. Personnel costs also are up for the department, mainly because Ashland's existing Senior Program — with its three part-time employees — will find a home within the department for the first time in the 2005-2006 fiscal year. “It should be a seamless transition,” said Parks and Recreation Department Director Don Robertson. City staff members said it is appropriate to house the senior program with the parks department because the program offers recreational activities for Ashland's elders in addition to helping them connect with social services. The parks budget includes money to light one of the two baseball fields at North Mountain Park if the baseball community can contribute $35,000. Soccer enthusiasts previously contributed money to help light soccer facilities there, Robertson said. A new filtration system is being installed in the lower duck pond for about $30,000. A system also will be installed in the upper duck pond at a similar cost in the 2005-2006 fiscal year, he said. Staff writer Vickie Aldous can be reached at 482-3456 x 3018 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