Document text
Big plans for a growing city photo by Jim Craven A golfer pulls his clubs down a fairway past a row of homes at Eagle Point Golf Course. Developer Chris Galpin plans eventually to build 650 homes around the course, plus 85 townhouses and a 60-room resort hotel. Eagle Point development centers on golf course By Melissa Martin of the Mail Tribune EAGLE POINT -- Until recently, Eagle Point had been a rural community that couldn't afford urban amenities such as tennis courts, wooded walking paths or wide boulevards. But one of the fastest growing regions in Southern Oregon may soon have some of these luxuries. A golf course developer hopes to include public recreation opportunities as he shapes his Eagle Point Golf Development into a resort community. "We purposely didn't let this development form in a way that middle America couldn't enjoy it," said developer Chris Galpin, a partner with the golf course's designer, Robert Trent Jones. Eagle Point Golf Development's master plan calls for 650 homes around an 18-hole golf course. In addition to an 8,000-square-foot clubhouse and restaurant being built right now, plans call for a 60-room resort motel, about 85 townhouses overlooking the 14th hole and small commercial shops near the corner of Shasta and Alta Vista. "Our goal is to create a development equal to Sunriver here in the Rogue Valley," Galpin said. Sunriver is a 3,300-acre resort 17 miles from Bend. It has two golf courses, three restaurants, 37 miles of paved bike paths, four swimming pools, 270 townhouses, and a 200-room lodge, among other accommodations. Eagle Point Golf Development, by comparison, is about one mile from downtown Eagle Point. Galpin has set aside portions of the 750-acre site for two parks, including one with tennis courts and horseshoe pits and another with an amphitheater, 10 miles of walking paths, a school, a church and a retirement home. The city hopes to make its own pathway system link to the golf course to provide a way for residents to walk safely anywhere in the city limits. "We see the golf course as more of an all-around facility and not just for golfers and that's the extra bonus for the city," said David Hussell, Eagle Point city administrator. "Any time the city can find a way of providing opportunity for recreation, especially for kids, it's a benefit." The homes that have been built so far in the Eagle Point Golf Development range in price from $170,000 to $650,000 and in size from 1,700 to 5,000 square feet. Three subdivisions are nearly complete: Fairway Ridge, where the developer has his home; Pine Lake I, a gated community of mostly retirees or couples with empty nests; and Pine Lake II, mostly made up of families with children. "It's not just the rich people who can live on the golf course," said Angie Torano, real estate agent for Eagle Point Developments. "There's something for everybody. There are some gorgeous homes and some simple homes, too." Some of the early arrivals in the development are glad to see major improvements taking shape, such as the clubhouse and the extension of Robert Trent Jones Boulevard, which will eventually connect Alta Vista to Stevens Road. "It has taken a lot of patience but the cream is coming to the top," said Roger Brown, president of the Eagle Point Golf Community Homeowners Association. Brown, an air traffic controller, was offered a job in Hawaii but chose to stay in the Pine Lake gated community, where he and his wife, Valerie, have lived since February 1997. "I don't think I could dynamite my wife out of here -- she loves it," said Brown, who has been an air traffic controller in Portland, San Francisco, Boise and Oakland. "Eagle Point is a small, friendly town. Everybody is on a first-name basis," Brown said. "Everybody is looking at the same goal -- quality of life, nice neighborhoods and rising property values." Property values are jumping in Eagle Point. The city's assessed value has increased $29.3 million, from $120.6 million in 1997-98 to $149.3 million this fiscal year, said Jackson County Assessor Dan Ross. It takes 18 months for city coffers to reap the benefits of a new home on the tax rolls, Hussell said. Meanwhile, every new home represents new streets to be maintained and more users on the city's water and sewer systems. Eagle Point's population has grown to 4,665 people, a steady 8 percent growth after a high of 12 percent two years ago. With the growth comes an increasing need for more pathways and sidewalks to reduce traffic and more police and fire services for public safety, Hussell said. "You have folks who have lived in Eagle Point all their lives and folks who are just moving in," Hussell said. "But basically, they are faced with the same question: How much do we want to keep the rural quality of life and how do we go about protecting it?" There are 2,000 lots approved and ready for homes in Eagle Point, Hussell said. In general, homes being built in north Eagle Point have lower prices while homes being built in the south near the golf course have higher values. Eagle Point could end up with an East Medford/West Medford situation, said the Rev. Ron Norris, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church in Eagle Point. "It's hard to say at this time because there are hundreds of homes that haven't been built yet and exactly what scale and price range they will be, we don't know," Norris said. "But as they market this area as a retirement community for golfing, that will attract more affluent people," Norris said. "It could be good for the community if it brings in new business opportunities and if new people take an interest in the community." Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA