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Talent turns down plan to build shopping center By MELISSA MARTIN TALENT -- Medford developer Jim Bennett's dream of building a shopping center on Highway 99 has gone the way of all other building plans submitted to the City Council the past year. The council has denied requests for a Head Start classroom, a subdivision, a family home and an industrial shop because of the building moratorium that's been in place since February 1997. "We don't want to overload the water system," says Nancy Kincaid, city planner. While the moratorium ends in March, the council is expected to extend it until the city is linked with Medford's water system in two years, Kincaid says. But for developer Bennett, there's no time like the present. His plans include putting a 100,000-square-foot building -- about the size of the Talent Wal-Mart -- on 10 acres on Highway 99, next to Anjou Village Apartments. The shopping center's anchor would be a national grocery company that won't be named until plans are approved, he says. "Talent has the largest leakage percentage of any area in Jackson County," Bennett wrote in a letter to the City Council. "This is a term used in the grocery industry to determine how many residents ... shop outside the designated market area, usually because of price and selection." He cites studies done by Columbia Research in Portland and by the grocery company planning to anchor his shopping center. In other action Wednesday, the City Council: Approved an ordinance that would require an adult business store to have a conditional use permit. The business owner would make an application to the planning commission. A public hearing would be held and the City Council would approve or deny the request. Approved a 5 percent wage increase effective Dec. 1 for all city employees. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA