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Ashland’s one step closer to creating more affordable housing, increasing transportation options and adding jobs after the Planning Commission this week approved the city’s Transit Triangle strategy for development south of town. The strategy includes relaxing some building constraints to encourage developers to build affordable housing in the triangle, bounded by Ashland Street, Tolman Creek Road and Siskiyou Boulevard. The ordinance will now move to the council’s plate Sept. 18 for a first reading and public hearing. A market feasibility study performed by Fregonese Associates concluded that multistory buildings with units ranging from 650 to 700 square feet would work well with the proposed amendments to the zoning standards. It is the city’s hope that several hundred affordable residential units will be built in that area. “The market feasibility study … included a return on investment (ROI) analysis of multi-story, residential and mixed-use building prototypes on test sites in the Transit Triangle using the Envision Tomorrow (ET) model,” according to a staff report. The analysis concluded that under current zoning and land use standards, predicted commercial rents are low while residential rental rates exceed those of the current rental market. “Without the proposed ordinance amendments, the ROI analysis projected dwelling units 1,000 square feet and larger and rental rates exceeding the amount a two-person household at median income can afford by 30 percent or more,” the report reads. Proposed amendments provide some flexibility for builders in the Transit Triangle, such as eliminating maximum limits on residential density and increased building height allowed with building step-backs. There are also reductions in off-street parking and landscaping requirements, reduced ground floor commercial uses and the potential for multi-use buildings (where the bottom floor of the building would be dedicated for commercial use and the upper floors for residential). The residential units developed under the Transit Triangle option would be required to be rental units. More expensive condominiums and short-term rentals such as hotels wouldn’t be allowed. The moves come at a time when rental market prices have gone up while at the same time the vacancy rate in the region remains at historic lows, around 1 percent. Studies show that rental needs in Ashland (44.8 percent of single-family homes are renter occupied) are much higher than compared to the averages of the state overall (36 percent). “According to figures released in January 2018 by the Southern Oregon Multiple Listing Service, the median sales price for existing single-family residences in Ashland in 2017 was $421,500, which was a 7.5 percent gain over 2016,” the report reads. “In contrast, the purchasing power of an Ashland household earning the median income in 2017 was $217,950 (median income for household of four).” The report then refers to a 2015 U.S. Census Survey which states within these parameters, 46 percent of Ashland households can afford up to $875 a month for housing. “Ashland households earning 120% of median income can afford $1,270 to $1,295 per month for housing costs. Workforce housing is considered to be 80 to 120 percent of area median income,” according to the report. The report also said that in July 2018, rentjungle.com showed the average rental unit price in Ashland as $1,493. “In August 2018, 31 units were listed as available. There was one unit listed below $875 a month and five units listed below $1,250. As a result, 25 of the advertised units, or 81 percent of the advertised units, were above the affordable monthly rent for workforce housing,” according to the report. Contact Daily Tidings reporter Caitlin Fowlkes at [email protected] or 541-776-4496. Follow her on Twitter @cfowlkes6.