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47 °F Forecast | Road Cams Wednesday, March 23, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend March 22, 2005 Phoenix council considers interchange By ROBERT PLAIN for the Mail Tribune The Phoenix City Council agreed Monday night to partially finance the construction of an interchange connecting Fern Valley Road to Interstate 5. Because the Oregon Department of Transportation has threatened to appeal a zone change, this local match for the transportation improvement project is seen as necessary in order to locate a Home Depot store in Phoenix. The council voted 5 to 1 to help pay for the project. Steven Schulman cast the dissenting vote. Even though the city could end up paying more than $2 million to build the interchange, council members were confident they could recoup this expense through future systems-development charges. The city will create a transportation system development charge for the interchange so future developers who benefit from it will help defray the cost. Advertisement "If all of these properties developed in a reasonably short amount of time, they would generate the two and a half million dollars we would need," Murray said. Murray said the city and ODOT have not yet agreed on how the money would be paid in the first place. "All ODOT is looking for at this point is a strategy," he said. Home Depot, as well as other government funding sources, have not agreed to pay their share of the interchange cost. The metropolitan planning organization has been asked to contribute $1 million and Home Depot has been asked to contribute $1.3 million. The MPO will meet in April to vote on allocating this money and Phoenix Mayor Vicki Bear said Home Depot will have a decision by Wednesday or Thursday. On Friday, Brian Cannard, the real estate manager for Home Depot, said he was not certain if the company could make those numbers work for them. Council members and Murray were largely in agreement that this could be the city’s best opportunity for fixing the Fern Valley Interchange. "We don’t have a lot of options for funding the interchange," Murray said. "If we don’t get this done, it might go away for a long time." However, Schulman felt that spending $2 million was a lot to ask of a city that has no money to draw from. "I’m concerned about all this mythical money we are spending," he said. "I guess I missed the meeting when the magic money tree was shown to the other councilors." To which Council President Carlos DeBritto replied, "It’s not money we have to put up front. Once the interchange goes in, this is going to trigger all sorts of things." Bear agreed. She said, "At some point you need to put a little money out in order to get a little money back." Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Student Loan Consolidation Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg Slippers Student Loans afsa teleconferencing Memory Foam Mattress w2 forms Tatoo Advertisement s