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Going up: buildings in downtown Medford Four government projects taking shape on the city's drawing board BY JIM DAVIS Medford will see a boom in the construction of government buildings and offices. The question is where. City, county and state officials are narrowing potential sites for four major projects to be built in Medford in the next few years. The Medford Urban Renewal Agency is bringing all the players together to come up with sites for a new library, a county juvenile facility, a Rogue Community College campus and a state office building. "This is kind of a macro-view of downtown to find out where do we put these facilities to make downtown better as opposed to where is it easiest to put them," Burt said. Just after Thanksgiving, Urban Renewal officials began talking with the different groups. In a January workshop, the agencies started weeding out sites. This week, Burt unveiled a plan of potential sites for all four projects -- although funding is still in question. In addition to the four projects, Urban Renewal plans to build two parking garages downtown in the next two to three years, Burt said. In urban renewal efforts, cities have only a certain number of "silver bullets" to bring people downtown, Burt said. "One of those is a downtown library, another one is government office facilities and institutions such as universities and hospitals," Burt said. The agencies will meet again in a public meeting from 1:30 to 4 p.m. March 11 at the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater. Burt said he hopes all parties can agree on preferred sites for most of the buildings. Here are updates on all four projects: State office building -- The state plans to build a three- to four-story, 55,000-square-foot office building to house 200 employees and several state offices that are now scattered around the Rogue Valley. State officials would like the building to be occupied by 2001. Bill Foster, the state architect in Salem, said each state agency will have a chance to comment on the proposed sites. The offices will be built wherever is best for the state agencies and the community, Foster said. Gov. John Kitzhaber has a standing order to place state office buildings in downtowns to support community cores. Medford Library -- Jackson County wants to rebuild or relocate many of its library branches, including its Medford headquarters. Ronnie Budge, the county's library director, said the county plans a 74,000- to 78,000-square-foot building in Medford. The funding is still a question, however. The county is expected to put a library bond before voters in March 2000. A new headquarters library would seem to work best just southwest of the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater, Budge said. "This (portion of downtown Medford) seems to be developing into an educational and cultural center that includes the college and the Craterian," Budge said, "and we would like to be a part of that." However, the library is not closing any doors in its search for a new home, Budge said. One idea that keeps coming up is to build a library in the Kmart Plaza shopping center on Barnett Road, Budge said. The library will hold a town hall meeting from 1 to 3 p.m. and 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday, March 6, in the Jackson County Courthouse auditorium, 10 S. Oakdale Ave. Questionnaires about patrons' needs are available at the library or the library's Web site: www.jcls.org "We really would like input and this is the stage to do it before everything is locked in," Budge said. Rogue Community College -- Dave Jordan, dean of administrative services, said RCC has three main options: grow and develop at the Riverside Center in downtown Medford; stay in downtown but place satellite centers throughout Jackson County; or build a more traditional main campus somewhere else in the county. For now, the college is anchored at its Riverside Center, because it is in only the second year of a 10-year lease. The college already needs more space. More students are enrolled in Jackson County than at the original campus near Grants Pass -- just two years after the county joined RCC's district. The college has been hosting focus groups in Medford to determine its future, Jordan said. Other responses are welcome. Like the library, the college doesn't yet have financing for new buildings. Jackson County juvenile facility -- The county would like to build a 67,000-square-foot, 60-bed juvenile facility near the downtown core. Voters last November rejected a $22.4 million bond to pay for the center. Alan Young, county juvenile department director, said the county hopes to put a new bond measure before voters this fall. He said county officials want to build the juvenile center near the Justice Building on Oakdale Avenue, but other locations will be considered. The county also wants to expand the Justice Center by adding courtrooms. A bond measure to pay for that also failed last year. RCC's enrollment here passes Josephine County BY JIM DAVIS For the first time, students attending Rogue Community College in Jackson County eclipsed the number of students in Josephine County. More than 4,000 students enrolled fall term in the relatively new Riverside Center in downtown Medford and the satellite classrooms throughout Jackson County. In Josephine County, 3,000 students attended classes at the school's more traditional campus. The college made the announcement this week, said Tom Bradbeer, the college's spokesman. "This is really just the beginning," Bradbeer said. "The potential for enrollment in Jackson County is much greater than what we've been able to offer so far." He said that the college's enrollment in Jackson County will continue to grow as the facilities and the number and variety of classes grow. RCC has been offering a limited number of classes in Jackson County since 1975; the college opened up the Riverside Center in downtown Medford in June 1997. The counties had similar enrollments last year. Dave Jordan, the school's dean of administrative services, said the numbers of students attending classes in Jackson County doesn't really surprise school officials. Before the expansion, RCC saw about a third of the school's population was commuting from Jackson County. Bradbeer cited a 1993 survey that found that only 33 percent of the high school graduates in Jackson County attended colleges in Oregon compared with 50 percent for the rest of the state. He said that Jackson County should be on par with or above the state average. The college, however, has less space in Jackson County for classrooms than in Josephine County, Jordan said. RCC is beginning to look for another 50,000-square-foot building near its Riverside Center to house more classrooms, Jordan said. RCC also is looking at a new building in cooperation with Southern Oregon University, so the schools can share services. The building would be new for RCC, but Southern Oregon University would be relocating the classes it offers at its current center in Medford, Jordan said. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA