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Subdivision would be steep Hearing Sept. 7 The Rogue River Planning Commission will continue its public hearing about Whitestone Estates at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 7. The hearing will be held at Rogue River City Hall, 133 Broadway. Rogue River site has slopes up to 35 percent By MELISSA MARTIN ROGUE RIVER -- A Central Point developer hopes to build 29 homes on a hillside near the city's water reservoirs. Whitestone Estates, off of Third Street, would be the steepest subdivision in Rogue River, said Norma Handbury, a planning commissioner. "It's really steep," Handbury said. "I call it a canyon." Developer Tony Hyde of Cascade Development Co. purchased the 10-acre parcel, which has slopes of 12 to 35 percent. However, most of the homes would be built on slopes with 15 percent grades, said surveyor Bob Neathamer. "We won't be building anything on a 30 percent slope," he said. "The idea is to find a good building site on the lot to minimize the impact." The city would work with its contract engineer on the project, John Krawczyk of Grants Pass. The developer would hire Bill Galli of Grants Pass, a geotechnic engineer who would take soil samples and earth borings to determine how solid the earth is at the site, Neathamer says. The Planning Commission listed several concerns that the developer must answer before the next public hearing in September. They include: streets with turn-around spots for emergency vehicles; adequate water pressure and storage for fire protection for parts of the subdivision that would be higher in elevation than the city's reservoirs; draining runoff water into Wards Creek and away from homes near the subdivision; and increased traffic on Third Street, a main arterial which already carries 1,200 trips daily, according to a city traffic count. The developer would have to build a storm drain system, Handbury says. The commission is also requiring Neathamer to show proof of easements from neighbors. "Anytime you pave or have an impervious surface, you will have drainage," says Kelly Madding, Rogue River city administrator. "The question is, where will it go?" This is not the first time the hillside property in Rogue River has been envisioned as a housing development. In the 1980s, a mobile home park was proposed there, but the developer couldn't resolve the drainage issues, said Dick Handbury, Rogue River mayor. He and his wife, Norma, have been in the building business for 25 years. The city hired an engineer last year to sample the earth off Broadway Street to decide where to build a 2-million-gallon reservoir, Handbury said. The report showed the hillside to be stable. While Whitestone Estates would be near the reservoir, the developer would have to provide a new engineer's study. The Planning Commission requires engineering reports on hillside or flood-plain subdivisions to prevent disasters such as those that have occurred in Washington state, Norma Handbury said. A landslide that wiped out a Kelso, Wash., subdivision was costly and devastating for families and local governments, which were held liable for a portion of the damage, Handbury said. "We don't figure that we have to worry about something like that happening here, but property like this hillside is more difficult to build on," she said. The property was owned by 17-year Rogue River residents Norman and Gail Frye, who will keep living on 0.6 of their original 5 acres. They sold 4.4 acres to Cascade Development. Don Marrah, a California resident, sold 5 acres to the developer. "We bought our properties within two months of each other and we decided to market the two pieces together," said Frye, a retired computer programmer. Rogue River recently lifted a sewer moratorium after completing a new treatment plant in February 1997, said Hope Warren, city planner. An earlier moratorium was lifted in June 1994 after Rogue River built its first municipal water system, providing city water for residents whose wells had gone dry. "There are people coming in that want to develop and build in Rogue River," Warren said. "The City Council and the staff have a big job in front of them to manage the growth and keep the quality of life, the small-town and heartfelt feel that everyone moved here for." Examples of the city's building flurry include the 26-unit Silverhorn condominiums, five of 15 homes nearly complete in the Cedar Ridge Terrace subdivision, two of nine approved homes built in Creekview Estates, and five of seven approved homes finished in Tuttle Court. In addition, work is starting this month on a 43-unit assisted-living facility on Wards Creek Road. Whitestone Estates would not be the only housing built on 15 percent slopes, said Larry Willard, a contractor and builder in Rogue River. He built five homes on Willow Lane with similar grades. Cedar Ridge, which has privately owned streets, also has grades as steep, he said. Homes adorn many hills Hillside subdivisions are not uncommon in the Rogue Valley. In Medford, homes above Eagle Trace subdivision are built on slopes with grades of 22 to 26 percent, says Larry Beskow, city engineer. In Ashland, the 12-lot Scenic Heights is being built on a 30 percent slope and some older parts of town have grades even steeper, says Maria Harris, city planner. Jacksonville city codes allow for construction on 30 percent grades, says Paul Wyntergreen, city administrator. The steepest subdivision in Shady Cove is built on a 15 percent grade, says Mike Malepsy of Windermere Trails End Real Estate. However, Shady Cove codes may allow for 25 percent grades when a citizens committee completes its review of the city's comprehensive plan, says city administrator Jerry L'Estrange. But homes on slopes must meet steeper standards, just as homes built in the flood plain, says Hope Warren, Rogue River city planner. Developers must hire an engineer to study the geology, soil and drainage of the hillside. Slope is the rise of the land per 100 feet. A 1 percent grade is a 1-foot rise in 100 feet. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA