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Jacksonville candidates address growth By Melissa Martin JACKSONVILLE � Did the Jacksonville City Council handle the First Presbyterian Church case wisely? That�s one of the issues five candidates are addressing during their campaigns to fill three seats on the Jacksonville City Council in the Nov. 7 election. The candidates are Joyce Coleman, Donna Schatz, Jerry Mathern, Wally Hicks and Clara Wendt. "The case was handled according to the book," said Coleman, elected to the council in 1996. "We did it with the best interest of everyone in mind. "But I deeply regret an issue that divides our community in any way. " Schatz, who has served on the City Council since 1995, said she wished the community would have worked together to find a solution when First Presbyterian Church outgrew its 119-year-old building and needed more space. "Somebody asked me, �Why don�t people drive to church in Medford,� and I told them that�s not the way Protestants solve growth issues � by pushing the growth onto another community," said Schatz, who is a church member. Jerry Mathern said the city�s denial of the church�s building permit will cost taxpayers money if the case ends up before the U.S. Supreme Court. The city last March denied the church�s conditional use permit to build a new sanctuary, citing the impact of traffic and noise on the neighbors. The church appealed the case to the Land Use Board of Appeals, which has not yet set a hearing. "The night of the final vote, each council member had a petition signed by 300 people asking the city to allow the church to build," said Mathern, who is a church member. "What bothers me most is that the council did not listen to the people." Clara Wendt said the city could have rewritten its land-use codes the way the council did this summer when it allowed a developer to build an assisted living facility in town. "You could find a way to work the church into the code," said Wendt, a former mayor of Jacksonville. Wally Hicks said residents of the Pheasant Meadows neighborhood knew when they signed their subdivision covenants that a church could be built on a nearby 10-acre vacant lot. "The church bought the property in good faith and certainly should have the right to explore all the possibilities and pursue it," Hicks said. Another campaign issue is Jacksonville�s rapid growth. Traffic problems need to be resolved, especially the re-routing of aggregate trucks out of downtown Jacksonville, Coleman said. "We need to ask ourselves, �What is Jacksonville going to look like and how will we keep it the way we want it to be?�" said Coleman, a retired educator. Schatz believes another factor should be added to the traffic equation � the growing population in Applegate and Ruch commuting through Jacksonville to jobs in the Medford area. "Traffic is a major problem right now and our whole infrastructure needs to be addressed," said Schatz, who is a licensed tax consultant. But as much as Jacksonville needs a bypass to route traffic away from downtown, it needs better communication between city hall and residents, said Mathern, retired from American Linen Supply. "I think we should divide the city into six sections and assign each a council member," Mathern said. "They could knock on doors and find out what concerns the residents have." Wendt believes the city should plead with state land-use agencies to give Jacksonville more leverage in planning for growth because of its status as a Historical Landmark District. "We should be concentrating our efforts on preserving what we have and our historical significance," said Wendt, a retired teacher. Jacksonville is already known for its business district, including its fine restaurants, said Hicks, who is a wholesale lumber distributor. But he hopes Jacksonville�s future includes more shops where locals can trade. "We want businesses to tend to the needs of the people who live here, but we can�t always do that because people are used to driving to Costco and other stores where they can save a nickel," Hicks said. Mayor Jim Lewis is running unopposed for re-election to the mayor�s seat. Lewis is a former attorney and a retired Navy captain. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.