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Sex-shop rules near completion Medford City Council also annexes tracts of industrial land Medite owns By JIM DAVIS An early draft of an ordinance that would restrict sexually oriented businesses in Medford will be given to the city manager early next week, an attorney said Thursday. Frank Sybrant told the Medford City Council Thursday night that the law was almost ready for review by city staff members. The ordinance could then be delivered to the council as early as Dec. 10. The council has been struggling to come up with regulation of sex businesses since early September, when Castle Superstores -- an Arizona-based sex-shop chain -- opened in a former grocery store on Progress Drive. Sybrant has been working with City Attorney Gene Hart to prepare the ordinance restricting the businesses. As part of regulating adult businesses, the council has already passed a nuisance ordinance and an ordinance that allows the city to deny or revoke a business license if the applicant provides false information. Another attempt to curb sexually oriented businesses apparently has failed. The council asked the League of Oregon Cities to lobby the state Legislature to amend the Oregon Constitution so that restrictions on adult businesses could be tightened. A league committee reviewed the request but denied it earlier this month. Councilwoman Linda Casey, who attended the committee session, said delegates from Southern Oregon cities supported the request. But the other members of the committee felt that the issue had been settled when voters rejected a state measure a couple of years ago that would have imposed many of the same restrictions. In other action Thursday, the City Council: Voted unanimously to annex two large tracts of industrial land into the city. The first tract is 101 acres of undeveloped, industrial land on the west side of North Pacific Highway, Highway 62 and Court Street and north of West McAndrews Road, the site of the old Medco mill. The second tract is 145 acres of undeveloped, industrial land west of Crater Lake Highway and south of Vilas Road, including much of the Medco Haul Road. The annexations are two of the largest in Medford in years, said city planner Mark Gallagher. No one spoke against either annexation. Both of the tracts of land are owned by the Medite Corp., and the Oregon Department of Transportation plans road projects running through both of them. Craig Stone, a consultant representing the Medite Corp., said the company doesn't have any immediate plans to develop either site, noting the state road plans. "Until those are solidified, it's rather difficult for Medite to plan anything," Stone said. Voted to hire Portland consulting firm Cogan Owens Cogan to come up with a vision for Medford. The contract requires that the cost not exceed $55,000 -- nearly half of an earlier estimate. Councilman Curt Bennett said the consulting firm would ask residents what they want their city to be. Bennett said the earlier estimate included paying the consultant to develop an implementation plan. City Manager Michael Dyal assured the council that his staff could do that. Ernie Garb, of the Medford watchdog group United Medford Citizens, had been critical of the earlier vision plan, saying it was too costly. At the session Thursday, Garb praised the council for taking a less spendy route. "It was unreasonably excessive," Garb said. "Now it's reasonably excessive." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA