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Land-use board will hear businesses' appeal of north interchange project By MELISSA MARTIN Mail Tribune The state Land Use Board of Appeals has agreed to hear an appeal from three businesses concerning the $36 million north Medford interchange project. LUBA denied a request from the Oregon Department of Transportation to dismiss the case because it didn't fall within the state land-use board's jurisdiction. Instead, the board on Feb. 7 received documents and letters collected over the past few years about the new interchange. Oral arguments will be scheduled in April, according to a LUBA secretary. "LUBA ordered that yes, they do have jurisdiction and they will hear the case," said Scott McCollum, owner of Rogue Regency Inn, which filed the appeal along with Comfort Inn and Witham Truck Center. The businesses say the state is not following its own land-use laws, which require it to consider a project's impact on businesses as well a number of other factors. McCollum's quarrel with the plan is that it would level a small shopping center he owns next to his inn. Comfort Inn would lose its main entrance with the planned closure of Hilton Road. And the truck stop would lose its main entrance on Biddle Road. "I hope we don't have too many LUBA decisions that make it harder on the land-use side," said Bruce Warner, director of Oregon Department of Transportation. "If somebody has a few dollars and a land-use attorney, they can slow a project such as with the north Medford interchange, where federal dollars are only good for a limited amount of time." Environmental and land-use debates should be worked out earlier in the process, he told the Rogue Valley Area Commission on Transportation in a meeting in White City Tuesday. "We need to clean up the process," Warner said. "My vision is that people can acknowledge the transportation system plans for their area, move it right to the (state's project list) and offer two options - build or no build. Right now, there are too many bites at the apple. We need to narrow the scope." Reach reporter Melissa Martin at 776-4497, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.