Document text
--> --> Paschal Winery along Suncrest Road is Talent's only full-fledged vineyard. Ashland Daily Tidings/AMY ALONZO Talent land fine for wine By Troy Heie Ashland Daily Tidings Nearly half of the land in Talent targeted for future growth has excellent potential for vineyards producing grapes for Merlot, Pinot Gris or Cabernet Sauvignon, a consultant's report finds. Residents will have a chance in March to sit down with city leaders to discuss all the delicious possibilities of new wine-making industries in the city. With the lifting last month of the five-year-old building moratorium in Talent, growth issues will top the city's agenda for the coming months and years. In a four-page report to the Talent Planning Commission, Porter Lombard, a Medford-based vineyard development consultant, concludes that 110 acres of the 218 acres of land in Talent available for growth is suitable for wine-making. Other wine varieties that could be produced in Talent include Syrah, Cabernet Franc, Voignier and Pinot Noir, he said. "The 110 acres would accommodate about 526 population (people) at the present population density in Talent. A viable vineyard industry must rely on good sites to be competitive with other regions. Therefore, it would be important to save these sites for wineries to consider for locating in the Bear Creek Valley," Lombard wrote in his Jan. 18 report. Lombard urged city officials to look at the financial numbers vineyards could provide before allocating these lands for homes or commercial development. "The potential gross income for vineyards on 110 acres is about $660,000 per year at the present grape price and $2 (million) to $6 million of value added to the economy from wine sales. This is a sizable addition to the wine industry for Southern Oregon," he wrote. The two areas in question are in the southern and south-central portion of Talent. One 123-acre tract, dubbed "TA-3" runs from the Highway 99 intersection with Talent Avenue south to a line just north of the Talent Irrigation District canal. Lombard said in an interview that areas within the TA-3 site rate in the Top 3 among a dozen parcels in the Bear Creek Valley where wine grapes could be grown. The other suitable tract, "TA-2," is a 50-acre plot bordered by Talent's urban growth boundary on the north and east, on the west by Rapp Lane and on the south to a midway point to Quail Run Lane. A third area of possible growth closer to downtown - labeled "TA-1" - is 45 acres and is tentatively committed to Phoenix-Talent School District shops, bus garages and a sports field. City Planner Kevin Cronin said a March 11 open house at Talent Community Hall is scheduled for residents and city officials to go over all the possibilities of future development within the city. Paschal Winery operates on the north side of Interstate 5 on Suncrest Road in Talent, and a few private vineyards dot the landscape near the southern end of town. Cronin said the idea of adding more vineyards to Talent is intriguing, but by no means a done deal. "There's still a debate over what soils can produce and support what. There are different ideas for what the available properties are going to be used for, whether it's vineyards, houses, commercial or open space. All those things are on the table for discussion," he said. Lombard's report is an offshoot of an effort to evaluate growth boundaries throughout the Greater Bear Creek Valley and determine how they could encroach on quality agricultural lands. As a cooperative project with the cities of Central Point, Medford, Eagle Point, Phoenix, Talent, Jacksonville, Ashland and Jackson County, the Rogue Valley Council of Governments spent the past year working with cities and the county to address potential areas of conflict associated with growth. RVCOG has produced its findings in a report entitled, "Regional Problem Solving, Phase One Status Report." ------- On the Net: Rogue Valley Council of Governments: www.rvcog.org Ashland Daily Tidings Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing