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52 °F 5 Day Forecast Tuesday, October 14, 2003 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | eSouthernOregon | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend September 17, 2003 Ashland OK’s ‘big box’ ordinance BY BILL CHOY for the Mail Tribune ASHLAND — After several hours of debate and revisions, the City Council finally passed the city’s "big box" ordinance late Tuesday night. After going though several modifications in previous meetings, the ordinance presented to the council limited buildings in the city to 45,000 square feet. The council spent much of its time Tuesday debating revisions to the ordinance. Advertisement Revisions sought included changing the part that did not allow any variances in the ordinance. "It bothers me a bit the ordinance doesn’t have any variances,’’ council member Chris Hearn said at the meeting. "It’s highly unusual.’’ Another revision was a recommendation to allow city staff to develop a plan to look at the possibility of how it could affect affordable housing in town. The final revised ordinance was approved nearly three hours after the start of the meeting. The ordinance maintains the 45,000-square-foot limit and will allow variances. Ashland staff also will examine the law’s effect on affordable housing. Council member John Morrison said while he would have preferred the square-foot limit to be around 30,00 square feet, he supported the ordinance. "I’m very lukewarm on this,’’ he said at the meeting. "But it does reduce the total size of buildings, although I would have preferred a smaller footprint.’’ He added it was a step in the right direction to help preserve downtown and keep "big box" businesses from possibly being built in town. The original ordinance on buildings was approved in 1992 and was meant to apply to commercial buildings outside downtown, but language to that effect was not included, city staff said at the time. Revising the ordinance was raised during the approval of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s New Theater in 2000. At the time, the council interpreted the 45,000-square-foot limit as applying only to the footprint of the structure, and not the gross floor area of the square footage. Changes to the proposed ordinance approved over the last several weeks included not excluding living areas from the total gross-floor area of the building, only excluding parking that is in the basement, and not allowing expansions of non-conforming buildings. Rooftop parking has been explicitly stated to count toward the gross-footage area of the building. Also, automobile parking areas located within the building footprint and in the basement would not count toward the total gross-floor area. Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2003 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback 3 WEEKS FREE! ADVERTISERS SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Real Estate Showcase Food for Thought Hike of the Week Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Openings Prime Times