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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Advertisement Email Story to a Friend April 25, 2006 Undeveloped properties like this one in the foreground south of the Cherry Lane area in east Medford are outside Medford�s urban growth boundary, but the land�s owners want to nudge the process to have the city include them in the UGB sooner so they can be developed. (Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell) A push for expansion By Meg Landers Mail Tribune Developers got a vote for faster service in bringing property into the city's urban growth boundary. In a Monday study session, the Medford Planning Commission agreed to encourage the City Council to consider adding properties into the city's urban growth boundary UGB on a case-by-case basis, rather than wait for the regional problem solving RPS process. City Planner Suzanne Myers said amending the existing process in no way is rubber stamping properties for inclusion in the UGB so they can be aggressively developed. "We still will have to go through an urban growth boundary expansion process," she said. She said the city planning staff has received requests from property owners of eight parcels totaling nearly 1,000 acres for inclusion in the urban growth boundary. Some of the properties are for residential development, some for commercial/industrial. Advertisement The council is scheduled to discuss the urban growth boundary inclusions during a study session at noon Thursday in Room 151, Lausmann Annex, 200 S. Ivy St., Medford. The regional problem solving process is a formal effort by seven cities and Jackson County, led by the Rogue Valley Council of Governments, to jointly plan for the valley's population doubling to 270,000 in the next 50 years. Medford wants to add nearly 4,600 acres to its urban growth boundary in the next 40 to 60 years to accommodate an additional 90,500 residents. But some of the property owners don't want to wait for the process, now in its sixth year and still a year or two from completion. High-density development on rural land must wait for a city to include the property in its UGB and then annex it. The system is designed to foster long-range planning and stop sprawl. The council voted April 6 to start the UGB expansion process for 150 acres owned by Harry and David, Mike Mahar and John Duke west of North Phoenix Road for a potential business park. But not everyone supports the idea of bypassing the existing process. Brent Thompson, president of the Friends of Jackson County, a land-use watchdog group, said that his group would object to a property such as the Rogue Valley Manor retirement community, whose leaders want to bring in 427 acres into the urban growth boundary, being given "preferential treatment." Manor officials propose building 1,352 housing units on the vacant land around the Manor's Centennial golf course being built on North Phoenix Road, but they need to get in the UGB and have the land's zoning changed from exclusive farm use to high-density urban residential. "I think they can live within the rules like everybody else," Thompson said of the Manor's proposal. He also questions the need to include more land within Medford's boundaries. Thompson said Medford has a low density for a metropolitan city, and needs to rely on infill strategies to accommodate its growth, rather than continue to sprawl. "Any other tactic or strategy is just going to be a resource-wasting strategy," he said. "They've already done enough resource-wasting in Medford." During the Planning Commission meeting, Commissioner Carl Bartlett said he would like to see the city look at the big picture when considering parcels, such as the Manor's proposal. Such a proposal could present transportation problems, he said. "I don't think realistically ... talking about the Manor, that they could pass the facility adequacy test," he said, referring to an assessment of whether nearby infrastructure can handle a development. Commissioner Norm Nelson said the longer the RPS process drags on the more likely it will fall apart, and it's wise to have a back-up plan in place. "Stay the two courses," he said. "We need to have a parallel process for the city of Medford." Mark Gallagher had been a city planner at the time the city rejected such expansion now being considered for the Manor and the other property owners. He said the current requests are in areas the city has identified for future growth. He said he supports the idea of the RPS moving slowly as opposed to rushing decisions. "If people need to do UGBs in the meantime, I'm not against it," he said. He said 10 years ago city staff opposed such expansion, but that was because the city had not yet done a study about where it wanted to grow. "It felt premature — it really isn't now," he said. List of properties for which requests have been filed Major urban growth requests As of Monday, the owners of eight properties totaling nearly 1,000 acres outside Medford's urban growth boundary have filed requests with the city to be included within the UGB boundary: •u 150 acres east of I-5, west of North Phoenix Road, owned by Harry and David, Mike Mahar, Lou Mahar and John Duke. 274 acres south of Cherry Lane, next to Chrissy Park, owned by Mike Mahar, John Duke and John and Cynthia Hansen. Eight acres at Hidden Valley Place south of Coal Mine Road, owned by Jeffrey Leever. Five acres on Hillcrest Road owned by Craig and Nicole McPheeters. 67 acres east of Oak Grove Avenue north of Stewart Avenue owned by Craig Adams and Terry Buntin. 427 acres south of Juanipero Drive owned by Rogue Valley Manor. 24 acres on Coal Mine Road owned by Randall Stroh. •u 32 acres on South Stage Road owned by Michael Litton and Jerry Beers. Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2006 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. 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