Document text
Ashland City Council approves new housing, commercial development By Morgan Rothborne Updated: Jan 08, 2023 09:34 AM A A A rendering shows a mixed-use residential/commercial project approved Tuesday by Ashland City Council for construction along Water and Helman streets and Van Ness Avenue. Ashland City Council approved a mixed-use residential and commercial subdivision Tuesday, overturning a decision by the Ashland Planning Commission, which denied the project last May. The approval will pave the way for Gil Livni of Magnolia Fine Homes to construct eight mixed-use buildings over six lots in an area bounded by Water and Helman streets and Van Ness Avenue. Each building will have commercial space on the ground floor, while a pair of residential units divided by one shared wall will occupy the upper stories, according to the application submitted to the developer. The council heard arguments from both sides before deliberating in a hearing that stretched into a three-hour debate. Most of the planned agenda was pushed off to a later meeting, including an orientation for newly sworn-in councilors Eric Hansen, Bob Kaplan and Tonya Graham. The debate hinged on the interpretation of a section of Ashland’s Municipal Code designed to preserve historical districts and limit what is built nearby. Brandon Goldman, interim director of the city Community Development Department said the Ashland Historic Commission and the Planning Commission reviewed the designs submitted for the project, known as Magnolia Terrace, and agreed that while they were excellent in and of themselves, the scale, shape and repetition from one building to another was incongruous to the neighboring historical districts and therefore did not conform to the city’s code. Several neighbors in the historical districts agreed and spoke at the commission’s meetings, but only one — Mark Brouillard — spoke against the designs at the council meeting. Livni was asked to revise the designs in March, but what he submitted in April was rejected as still not conforming to the city’s expectations for buildings abutting a historical district. Goldman asked the council to uphold the denial but use its powers to enable Livni to submit new designs without paying the more than $25,000 in application fees a second time. Livni’s attorney for the appeal, Mike Reeder, argued commissioners misapplied the code in the first place. Looking elsewhere in Ashland’s code, he argued the lot lines and lines in the center of the street determine a transitional area. His client’s property was outside that area, he said. “The property cannot be held hostage to that limited definition of vicinity; that just is not in the context or the keeping of the code,” he said. “Even if you don’t buy my argument that it doesn’t apply — which I believe is correct — you still have to acknowledge that it’s ambiguous, and if it’s ambiguous, it cannot be applied,” he said. Based on a 1960 Oregon Supreme Court Case, Reeder argued, land use law has to be clear and easy to interpret. Livni said the process felt like he was chasing an ever-changing standard. “If things were clear, I would push it 6-foot; I would do whatever they wanted. I could even push the middle building a few feet back so it looks different, very simple. The problem is: I’m coming back; I’m guessing. The same commission will want something else; the day after that, they want something else,” he said. “I cannot do that. For me to just come and do what I did cost about a hundred thousand. I’m going to spend another hundred thousand going back and forth. Yes, you like; you don’t like it; you want it pink; you want it white — it’s very confusing. This is why you don’t see things building,” he said. The appeal was first scheduled to come before the council in July, Goldman said, but the applicant asked to delay. The Planning Commission brought it before the council Tuesday because the clock on the appeal would run out Feb. 10. Councilor Paula Hyatt said the code likely should be revised so it isn’t difficult for staff or anyone else to interpret. “How long has this been a dirt lot?” Councilor Sean Moran asked. Goldman said the lot has sat empty for about two decades. Moran asked if this was an elaborate blame game, and the buildings could be built if the council ruled in favor of the appeal or overturned the commission’s decision. Mayor Julie Akins said if the council ruled in favor of the appeal, it could change the way the code is interpreted in the long term. Hyatt noted that the city needs the housing, and Hansen agreed the need for development in Ashland was great and available land limited. “I don’t think it’s any kind of conflict to the way the area should look, and I don’t think we should be subjective,” said Councilor Gina DuQuenne of the proposed designs. “Frankly, of course, it’s subjective. That’s what we’re asking our council commissions to do — to apply their expertise to help us through the subjectivity. I’m not afraid of the subjectivity; we’ve asked our commissions to help us apply these aesthetic values,” Kaplan said. Hyatt proposed a resolution to overturn the denial from the Planning Commission and approve Magnolia Terrace with the condition that the designs would undergo a series of changes to the facade setbacks and other details enumerated during the Planning Commission’s testimony. Reach Mail Tribune reporter Morgan Rothborne at [email protected] or 541-776-4487. Follow her on Twitter @MRothborne.