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Eisenhard works toward city's future Photo by Jim Craven Medford Planning Director Jim Eisenhard, right, and associate planner Bianca Petrou conduct a survey in the home of a Medford resident during a Neighborhood Walk Tuesday. Eisenhard retires today after 21 years as planning director. He retires today from 25-year tenure as Medford planner By PETER WONG Jim Eisenhard was frustrated by his first job in Medford. After two and a half years as a resource specialist in forest engineering for the Bureau of Land Management, when planning was a low priority for the federal agency that oversees much of Jackson County, he left in 1972. "But even though I did not enjoy my stint at BLM, I began to develop a sense of home here," he said. He came back to Medford in 1975, and his second job lasted 10 times longer. The 55-year-old Eisenhard retires today after exactly 25 years in city planning, the last 21 as planning director. It is a long tenure in such a high-profile job that even he did not expect. "I am amazed at the tremendous reservoir of information he has and his willingness to share it," said Gene Martin of Medford, a former president of the Jackson County Citizens League, which has monitored local land-use practices. "He wants to create the best possible city for Medford. He does not make policy, but he provides a lot of background and insight to the City Council -- and to ordinary citizens like us." A reception is scheduled for Eisenhard this afternoon in the Lausmann Annex. The council will present a plaque to him at noon Thursday in City Hall. "I do not see my job as promoting my agenda to the community," Eisenhard said. "My job is to listen to what the community thinks it wants to be. Then I do my best to facilitate and implement what the community feels is its future." Eisenhard earned a bachelor's degree in forest resource management and a master's degree in ecology from Pennsylvania State University. After stints in the Army and the BLM, he obtained his first urban planning experience in Orange County, Calif. When he returned to Medford in 1975, Eisenhard reworked the city's land-use plan to comply with statewide requirements under Oregon's pioneering law of 1973. It was the first plan from Oregon's 240 cities and 36 counties to be submitted to and win approval from the state in 1976. He was named to the top planning job by the city manager in 1978. Al Densmore, then the mayor, said Eisenhard did a good job in an always difficult position. "When I was mayor, planning was not as contentious as I think it is now," Densmore said. "We were early in the process then and all of us were trying to make it work. As development fills in property within the city, I think the calls are tougher." After long negotiations with Jackson County, Medford won state approval of its urban growth boundary in 1981. That boundary determined how far the city could expand in 20 years. Medford has nearly doubled in population, from 33,900 to 60,000, in the 25 years Eisenhard has worked for the city. But he said that to his surprise, virtually all development is within the 14,900 acres in the original boundary. The boundary was expanded by about 1,200 acres in 1990, but he said only a handful of building permits have been issued there. "We have grown a little smarter," he said. Eisenhard said the city's Southeast Plan, which provides for a mix of residential and commercial uses in its last large undeveloped area, is a model for what cities will do in the future. "As urban areas like ours continue to become more compact, it means higher population density," he said. "Privacy and safety become more important, but they can be accomplished." Eisenhard said it's up to the council -- and the people who elect it -- to determine which way Medford should go in the next century. "What our future will be depends on the choices we make today," he said. "Those choices are between the individual vs. community -- and we need to choose what is best for our community -- and short-term vs. long-term benefits." Mayor Lindsay Berryman said Eisenhard's accomplishments are reflected on the maps and in the neighborhoods of Medford. "I think he can look at what he has done for this community and pat himself on the back for his contribution," she said, "though he probably won't." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA