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OSF�s building plans approved Ashland Planning Commission votes to allow 350-seat theater By Sara Murphy ASHLAND � Oregon Shakespeare Festival officials didn�t even try to mask their emotions after Tuesday�s Ashland Planning Commission meeting. They were grinning from ear to ear. With little debate or discussion, the commission voted 8-1 in favor of the festival�s plans to build a new theater and three-level parking structure at the site of a city-owned parking lot on Hargadine Street. "We�re delighted at their action," said OSF board president Marty Lemke. "It�s a good plan, it really is." OSF plans to build a 350-seat theater, tucked behind Carpenter Hall, that will replace the Black Swan Theatre as one of the festival�s three venues. As part of its lease agreement with the city, OSF plans to replace the Hargadine Street parking lot with a three-level parking garage, which the city will own and operate. The upper tier of the 140-space structure will be at Hargadine Street level, while the two lower tiers will be accessed by a drive that takes advantage of the site�s steep slope. The Black Swan, which was converted from a car showroom in 1977, will be used for OSF workshops, lectures and rehearsals once the new theater is complete. The as-yet unnamed theater should be ready for the 2002 season, OSF officials say. Construction is scheduled to begin in October and should take about 13 months. Meanwhile, OSF officials are waiting to receive a list of conditions the planning commission approved along with the project�s site review and conditional use permit. The conditions will mostly include minor landscaping modifications. "We�re not anticipating there�s anything on (the list) that�s going to be too troubling," said OSF director Paul Nicholson. Tuesday�s planning action grants OSF a conditional use permit for the theater�s fly tower, which will exceed the city�s standard 40-foot height limit by about five feet. The fly tower is a structure over the stage in which unused scenery, stage lighting and backdrops are kept out of view of the audience. Most of the three-story theater will be about 38-feet tall. Marilyn Briggs was the only commissioner to vote against the theater plan. Briggs said the building lacks a strong sense of entry and isn�t architecturally compatible with downtown building standards. "It doesn�t look like an important place," said Briggs, adding that screens near the theater�s front entry look like a suburban deck. "It doesn�t have dignity," Briggs said. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA