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City OKs OSF's plans for bigger theater But council still has some concerns over parking By DANI DODGE ASHLAND -- The City Council gave the Oregon Shakespeare Festival a symbolic thumbs up to proceed with plans to build a new, bigger theater that will replace the cramped Black Swan Theatre. With a unanimous vote, the council authorized the city administrator to sign the OSF planning documents necessary to start the project. City approval was needed because part of the project will be on a city-owned parking lot. But the council also had reservations -- which they planned to discuss before the project goes very far -- such as the size of the building, and parking issues. Still, festival officials were relieved to get city support after nearly a year of dealing with controversy over their first proposal. That plan required moving historic Carpenter Hall. This proposal leaves Carpenter Hall intact. "Unanimous support makes a very clear statement," said OSF Executive Director Paul Nicholson. He noted that the festival would continue to hammer out the continuing points of contention. "Everything is up for discussion," he said. "We aren't taking a rigid line on anything and we don't thin the council is either." Tuesday's discussion was a continuation of a council meeting agenda item held over from two weeks ago when the council ran out of time to deal it in their regularly scheduled meeting. At that meeting, a number of people expressed concern about the growth of the festival; others sounded their support for the project. The festival proposes to build a new theater to replace the Black Swan that will seat up to 350 people. Plans also call for construction a two-tier parking lot, with the top tier at Hargadine Street level and the lower tier below ground. It would add 36 spots to the current 84 in that lot. The council received a letter from Doug Neuman -- the developer renovating the Mark Anthony Hotel -- who said he would be interested in discussing expanding the parking structure onto his parking lot, which is adjacent to the Hargadine lot. "I would, of course, need to reserve the building rights above such a structure for future expansion," he wrote. "But I am excited about such a partnership with the festival and the city." Several people who spoke to the council Tuesday praised the festival for its contribution to the community and the willingness it showed to listening to community concerns when it abandoned plans to move Carpenter Hall. "They listened ... and found another idea that works better," said Chuck Keil. "All citizens in the community should be happy -- it will help our economy." And to not cooperate with their plans would be "tantamount to (the city) shooting itself in the foot," said resident Susan Rust. But there were reservations, even among those who support the plan, about some of its provisions. The plans tentatively called for the festival to charge for parking in the new lot to recoup costs, which riled some council and community members. In other action, the council unanimously agreed to remove a provision in the city code that allows advertising to be exempt from competitive bidding. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA