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By Damian Mann Mail Tribune September 15. 2014 12:01AM Medford looks for room to stretch out Faced with the prospect of running out of buildable land in the near future, the city of Medford may seek approval from the state to add another 1,650 acres to its urban growth boundary. Medford is looking for room to handle an expected 50 percent population growth. The sites include property adjacent to the fairways and greens of Centennial Golf Course, southeast of the city. Mail Tribune / Jamie Lusch Faced with the prospect of running out of buildable land in the near future, the city of Medford may seek approval from the state to add another 1,650 acres to its urban growth boundary to help accommodate 15,000 new homes and enough land for commercial development. City officials are trying to figure out how much land it needs to handle anticipated growth over the next 20 years as the population increases from 76,000 to a projected 115,000, more than a 50 percent increase. The city has to undergo a state process to add acreage to expand outside of the 18,000 acres already in its urban growth boundary. The last time the city went through the process was in 1990, when it added land also projected to be sufficient for 20 years. That land was not developed as quickly as projected. When the Great Recession hit, development came to a virtual halt, stalling projects such as the massive Southeast Plan, where 1,000 acres were slated for development in the early 2000s. “We had a much slower growth rate,” said Bianca Petrou, assistant planning director. The state allows cities three options to handle expected growth: Increase the density within existing boundaries, expand boundaries for expected growth or do a combination of increasing density and expanding boundaries. Petrou said the city likely will seek a combination of the two. A planning proposal that would require City Council approval calls for increasing the density on an existing 800 acres within the city, shaving off 100 acres for expansion Still, based on growth projections in a 2007 study, the city will need to add about 1,000 acres for residential and about 650 acres for commercial, she said. Altogether, the expansion and the increased density would accommodate about 15,000 residential units, Petrou said. The council will likely discuss the proposals developed by the Medford Planning Department on Oct. 23, and the public will get a chance to review them at an open house tentatively scheduled for Oct. 28. The proposed expansion mostly would be to the northeast and southeast of the city, Petrou said. “For the most part, the city doesn’t plan to grow to the west,” she said. The growth areas were chosen, in part, because the city could extend streets and services such as water and sewer by connecting into existing lines. The city has avoided expanding to the west in an effort to preserve farmland, Petrou said. Among the areas being looked as part of the expansion is land within the boundaries of the Centennial Golf Course property on North Phoenix Road. Brian McLemore, chief executive officer of Pacific Retirement Services, parent company of the Rogue Valley Manor and the golf course, said his organization still wants to build an active adult community that was proposed several years ago. The golf course would remain and be the central theme for the 1,000-unit residential complex, McLemore said. He said PRS is hopeful the city follows through on the expansion efforts, but the project will need to some “tweaks” before it is finalized. “It’s still the plan,” he said. Reach reporter Damian Mann at 541-776-4476, or e-mail [email protected]. Follow him at www.twitter.com/reporterdm. http://www.mailtribune.com/article/20140915/NEWS/140919844 © 2015 Copyright © 1995-2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement -->