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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels September 9, 2004 It's clear that change is here By Myles Murphy Ashland Daily Tidings What once was considered important to a vital downtown has clearly become something very different as the city of Ashland embarks on many changes to its downtown. "We don't feel it's the building that's the important thing, it's the business," Linea Johnson said, husband Rick nodding emphatically in agreement. "This is our issue, not a community issue." With the recent sale of the building, the Harrison Parts Co. will soon be closing its doors. The store, in operation since 1928, is one of the last of its kind in downtown Ashland. Denise Baratta | Ashland Daily Tidings Longtime customers of Harrison Parts Co. would agree, but for the city as a whole, the Johnson's $1.2 million sale is about the building specifically, and generally about the changes coming downtown. Downtown building trends and the movements of vast sums of money with several pending projects point at shifting priorities and a city on the verge of monumental change. The transformation is rooted in raw property values, not the integrity of individual businesses. Going up Bob Kendrick, Madeline Hill and David Scheiver are buying the Harrison building for $1.2 million, and plan to preserve the structure as mixed-use retail business space on the ground level with condominiums above. The group will also put up the same kind of building in the Harrison parking lot next to the building that housed the former Q's night club off Lithia Way. A block or two in either direction downtown are similar proposals that, if nothing else, suggest a growing trend toward modernization. The Bemis project near Ashland Springs Hotel, the Haines project at Water Street and the Jasmine building rising from the foundation of the old Genkai restaurant are all similar proposals - mixed-use with condos on top. "This is the next growth area for Ashland," Ashland Mayor Alan DeBoer said. "Any building will be prone to half-million-dollar condos. The only way we're going to go is up." The city itself is looking at a number of downtown parking lots to be transformed into ground-level parking with living units - likely "affordable" units - above. All part of the plan This sort of building isn't a fad or an unexpected trend, but a style of development preferred by the city, and specifically encouraged in its 2001 Downtown Plan, which calls for the city to "� encourage infill with denser development by reducing the need for developing large off-street parking areas and allowing taller buildings. Infill buildings should be at least two stories, and higher in some cases, with difference in grade between East Main and Lithia Way used to advantage. Street level floors of infill buildings should be commercial, with upper floors being either commercial, office, or residential. Some new multi-story buildings could incorporate parking within, behind, or even on top of the building." This plan first came out in 1988, with the latest update set in 2001. Constricted by state law and community temperament to development within the city's Urban Growth Boundary, even the city's most outspoken critics of growth tend to agree that building higher rather that outward is the preferable way to go. "Basically, I'm in favor of high-density and no urban sprawl," planning process watchdog Bryan Holley said. "But I don't like to see the city solve one problem and create another." A tradeoff Holley points at Siskiyou Crossing on the corner of Siskiyou Boulevard and Walker avenue, which has been largely vacant since it was built, and asks if more retail space is really needed in the city. While he likes the idea of building up rather than sprawling out, the end result is larger buildings which serve little purpose if they sit vacant. "All of a sudden, at some point, too many big buildings will change some of the shape and charm of the downtown," Holley said. "When there's enough of them it will change the character. It might happen at different points for different people, but it will be changed." More people living, working and playing downtown will have other effects, DeBoer believes, pointing at possible parking problems and friction between residents and late-night businesses, such as music venues. "But if anything, this'll be a positive," DeBoer said. "I've known the owners for years, and congratulate them on their success." Both Holley and DeBoer agree that affordable housing would be preferable in such projects. "I would hold their feet to the fire," Holley said. "If they want to do this mixed-used, then by God it should be affordable housing. And throw in some rentals." Something lost? The auto parts store is one of the last businesses in the downtown which actually sells something needed to residents. "There's a difference between what you want and what you need," Rick Johnson said. "There's nothing so frustrating as not being able to find what you need, Linea Johnson said. "This store leaving this spot will have a huge impact. It's the closing of an era." The Johnsons miss the Ashland they grew up in, and are ambivalent about the direction things seem to be going as the city changes. "If you're dependent on the tourist industry, people are going to starve," Rick said, adding that the creation and support of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival was "one thing I can say this town has done right." For some time, the city has encouraged businesses such as Harrison's to locate away from the downtown, according to DeBoer, who pointed at Ashland Hardware on A Street as an example. "Certainly an auto repair station is abnormal for downtown," he said. What's left is mainly tourism-driven shops and restaurants, reflecting the shift in Ashland's economy. "I mostly lament the loss off a local business," Holley said. Time will tell City Planner John McLaughlin said that in many Oregon cities, much of the new development is happening outside the center in town. "You're seeing more of the strip mall and Wal Mart areas outside of downtown getting the new investments," he said. "It's definitely a good thing for cities to invest in downtown and keep them vibrant. You're seeing in other cities their downtowns becoming a shell of itself because investment is happening outside of town." Only time will tell if mixed-use projects like the Harrison site will continue in downtown, McLaughlin said. "We need to see if development meets a needed demand," he said. McLaughlin said mixed-use development could follow the pattern he saw with an influx of new motels and hotel renovations, which occurred a few years back. These included the Holiday Inn Express on Clover Lane and the Plaza Inn & Suites at Ashland Creek, located on Central Avenue. "They all came in at once and I think they pretty much met that need," McLaughlin said. "I think we're not going to see a new motel for a while because there's currently not a pent-up need for it." But there is a need apparently for new, taller, more expensive buildings. Those involved in these developments are banking millions that the need and interest to make these successful is already there, just waiting for their buildings to arrive. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams