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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us March 1, 2005 Lots at stake By Robert Plain Ashland Daily Tidings The cities Phoenix and Medford are both growing - right into each other, in fact. As the Rogue Valley continues to be developed at a pace quicker than municipal planners can react to, these two very different neighboring communities are finding that their future growth areas are on a crash-course with the other's. On North Phoenix Road, in a county area classically thought of as Phoenix, two land owners have decided to join the city of Medford instead of the smaller, less developed community to the south. And the subsequent loss of a buffer between Phoenix and its larger neighbor to the north has left the Phoenix City Council and its mayor worried that their slower-growing town will loose its identity and take another step to becoming a bedroom community to Medford. Decisions by property owners between Phoenix and Medford are shaping both cities' futures. Photo by Orville Hector "You have to understand this is part of the tradition of the great West," Mayor Vicki Bear said after a regional planning meeting Monday night in Phoenix. "Oregon has always had a wide-open space feeling. How will we know where are boundaries are?" she asked rhetorically. Bear said, as the regional planning process continues her government will "get together with Medford" and come to agreement on how best to maintain a natural boundary between the two towns. The properties in question, at 2558 N. Phoenix Road and 3100 N. Phoenix Road, are owned by the Bear Creek Corporation, which does business as Harry and David Fruit Co., and Michael Mahar, an area developer, respectively. Both owners had representatives at Monday night's meeting but neither was willing to discuss their reasons for choosing Medford over Phoenix. Jeannell Wyntergreen, a Phoenix city planner, indicated at the meeting that the landowners' decision might be related to Medford's ability to provide a central roadway to these lots quicker than Phoenix could. Medford, she said, has plans to construct a freeway overpass to connect to South Stage Road. Denis Murray, Phoenix's planning director, explained that during meetings between the two cities, they both agreed that because Medford is financing a portion of the South Stage overpass, it would be the logical home for the properties connected by that overpass. "I don't think Phoenix wants the responsibility of taking care of the South Stage extension across the freeway," he said. City Councilor Terry Helfrich said during the public workshop that he felt a buffer between Phoenix and Medford was important to the morale of the often-overshadowed city that he represents. "I feel we are losing something," he said. "I feel like [the two lots] are being pulled out from under us. There needs to be more separation besides just a sign. Wyntergreen added that, in addition to losing a natural buffer and vista between the two cities, Phoenix will also lose whatever tax revenue is eventually garnered from the development of these lands. "The revenue from these two properties, being next to a golf course, is going to be pretty substantial," she said. In 2003, the Phoenix City Council approved a growth map that included the two lots in question. Before the long-term master-planning process can continue, the council will have to approve an amended map depicting the two areas as now being a part of Medford's urban growth area. On Monday, the council was unwilling to take this step and, instead, continued the public workshop to March 14 at 5:30 at the Phoenix town hall. 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