Document text
Ashland takes stock of parks Ashland parks director Ken Mickelsen shows off Strawberry-Hald Park, City officials will review the open space program Monday night in the parks department office in Lithia Park. By Dani Dodge of the Mail Tribune ASHLAND -- Since Ashland began its open space program about 10 years ago, the city has gained 381 acres of parks. In 1990, Ashland had 10.5 acres of park per thousand people; now the number is about 35 acres per thousand. That includes active parks such as the 40-acre North Mountain Park, where ballfields and soccer fields are being developed; neighborhood parks such as the two-acre Railroad Park that are green patches with small playgrounds in dense neighborhoods; and passive parks such as the 25-acre Strawberry-Hald Park on Strawberry Lane above Ashland, where the only tracks on the trails are deer hooves. "It has been wildly successful," said Mayor Cathy Shaw. "My counterparts in other communities are jealous," said Community Development Director John McLaughlin. After meeting with 12 neighborhood groups, the Ashland City Council adopted the Open Space Plan in 1989. But the first attempt at funding the plan failed in 1991, when the voters turned down a hotel/motel tax. But in March 1993, 55 percent of the voters approved a 5 percent food and beverage tax. Four cents of every dollar go toward updated sewage treatment. One cent of every dollar goes for the acquisition of open space and parks. In November 1993, opponents tried to repeal the meals tax, but again Ashland showed its support for the funding source and defeated the opposing measure by 51 percent. It's the only meals tax in Oregon. Since 1993, the city has collected $1.5 million for open space and park acquisition through the tax. It expects to collect $3.4 million more before the food and beverage tax sunsets in December 2010. So far, city officials have purchased 14 parcels worth $3.1 million. Citizens have donated several other parks, and systems development charges also have been used to buy land. At 7 p.m. Monday in the department office in upper Lithia Park, the Parks and Recreation Commission will review the city's open space and park acquisition program and a map outlining the new park system. The progress will be compared to the city's comprehensive plan, which has among its aims the goal of a park within a quarter-mile of every residence in Ashland. Ultimately, the commission will determine what direction the program will take in the next decade. "Once they look at it, they may want to put an emphasis on certain aspects of the park system such as neighborhood parks, or maybe more emphasis on natural areas," said Ken Mickelsen, the parks director. Mickelsen and McLaughlin said one area the city still needs to beef up in the parks system is active parks: those with places for kids and adults to play sports. They are keeping their eyes on one site off Clay Street adjacent to the YMCA park on Tolman Creek Road, as well as another piece across from North Mountain Park. But all this beauty and pleasure came at a price that is still being paid every time someone sits down in an Ashland eatery. Some have said the meals tax was one of the most divisive issues ever to face Ashland. Chateaulin Restaurant owner Michael Donovan still insists the tax hurts the poor more than it costs the rich. "We know which restaurants collect the most tax: It's fast-food places," Donovan said. "It's not the fine-dining patrons paying this tax, but ultimately it remains the people who can least afford it are paying the most. "I would still to this day look for another funding source." El Tapatio, a restaurant just outside the Ashland city limits, still boasts "No city tax!" on its advertisements. Although she didn't support the meals tax in the beginning, Councilwoman Susan Reid has been convinced since then of the logic in it -- especially when it comes to funding the city's sewage treatment. "I've ended up thinking we are pretty fortunate that the people who come here as guests share the cost of a big civic improvement like the sewage treatment plant," she said. She noted the city's open space program has become a model for the state. "I think that we have a real nice combination of parks here," she said. "Parks are more than ballfields -- having open space in neighborhoods, especially as they become more filled in, is more and more important. There are real nice parks with just trails to walk." Several times, because of the constant funding source, the city has been able to jump in and buy a parcel at market value right before it developed into a controversial housing project. That happened most recently at Scenic and North Mountain Avenue, where the city bought a 20-acre lot slated for development into a multifamily housing unit. The city did it up on Strawberry Lane, where a developer had already gone through the city's pre-approval process to build a 28-unit development. The development's traffic was causing controversy, and it also would have dramatically changed the view of the hillside above Ashland -- from a wooded area of oaks and Manzanita to a forest of high-dollar houses. "People said the viewshed was important ... and it was under pressure to develop," McLaughlin said. "So, we bought this difficult piece of property. "Most cities don't have anything to do that with. They can't get a bond together in enough time." Standing up at the 25-acre passive park on Strawberry Lane, a smile spreads across Mickelsen's face. A gorgeous view of Ashland is visible on one side, and Friday's sprinkling of snow is reaching down from the Cascades on the other. "You can see why people would pay big bucks for a house out here," he said. "The problem is places that are great for parks are also great for development." But now Ashland has a weapon: The money to compete with developers. And they are blasting away, creating a town resplendent with trees, children at play, and quiet solitude. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA