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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us February 17, 2006 No plan is a bad plan Thursday’s report on the Ashland City Council’s priorities for 2006 felt like opening a stocking on Christmas morning and getting a lump of coal. The council will delay downtown planning to make land-use code changes? Really? This came from a recent meeting during which the council to set its goals for the second year with this latest group of councilors. Consider the unresolved issues of Ashland Fiber Network, Ashland Police Department leadership and a recent report saying the city’s planning department has serious, ongoing problems. It is hard to label this council’s first year in office a raging success. The city administrator is leaving. The director of community development was forced out. The police chief was given a vote of no confidence by his own officers. Last one out turn off the lights, OK, because we won’t soon be able to afford the electric bill. All of this is why this downtown plan proposal by Crandall Arambula is such a hanging curve that this council could mash into the bleachers if they would just, for once, swing for the fences. The city already paid $15,000 just to hear the Portland firm, proven professionals who have worked with many cities to craft unique plans that bring public commitment and private investors together, all the while taking on input from local residents and business owners. A break in the impasse by forging a plan for downtown would help the city provide badly needed economic stability. How? Turn two vacant lots into viable new businesses with decent paying jobs and the city’s economic benefit far outweighs the roughly $200,000 paid for the plan. Considering that the city’s effort to hold downtown planning meetings last year went belly up with public division, the need for progress is even more apparent. A majority of the council believes reworking complex land-use codes and creating a better foundation for affordable housing is a higher priority than downtown planning. The irony is Crandall Arambula has proven that as it helps the community forge a plan of its own, the process also forges needed ordinance and legal changes. This process is not just pie-in-the-sky planning, but the development of a practical road map for a controlled future. Another year of delays will only result in further heated community disputes, deeper divisions and fewer options for a truly creative plan. Further delays will stall economic growth and continue to foster the city's dependence on tourism alone. More importantly, several pending projects may push through without waiting for a never-realized plan, making a truly cohesive plan somewhere in the future all the less likely. We urge the council to reconsider this delay before the final vote is taken on the downtown plan. Given the go-ahead, the next year could bring a new downtown plan that includes prioritization of affordable housing, changes to land-use obstacles and a vision for controlled development downtown that thwarts sprawl into the outlying areas of the city and entices businesses that will bring higher paying jobs into the heart of the city. This is just too important to let linger for another year. 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 Online Pharmacy Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations Hammocks Water Filter Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams