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Jacksonville wants some elbow room Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Growth in Jacksonville is extending further into rural areas such as these new houses near a pear orchard on South Stage Road. The city hopes to extend its urban growth boundary to accommodate growth and the state�s requirements for meeting multi-family and business needs � including new housing, a commercial zone and a bypass. 1,000 new residents are expected by the year 2015 By Melissa Martin JACKSONVILLE � David Wright has seen the writing on the wall and knows that someday, a highway will be built through his pear orchard. The 63-year-old second-generation farmer has no children who want to take over the business of caring for his aging, low-producing orchard. So his retirement plans dovetail with the city of Jacksonville�s desire to reserve his land for a bypass to route traffic around the city�s historic downtown core. Orchardists get complaints Pears or people? As the Rogue Valley�s population grows, so does the pressure put on pear growers when a subdivision moves in next door. "People enjoy looking at orchards, but they have to realize that an orchard is a factory without walls," said Dennis Hofer. He is executive director of the Fruit Growers League, which represents pear and grape growers in Southern Oregon. "The farmer has to make money; he�s not in the business of providing free open space for people to look at." And people who live next to a "pear factory" should expect windmills running at 2 o�clock in the morning and fertilizer spray trucks in the spring, he said. "People need to realize this isn�t a park � it�s a farm. It has to create a profit or it will not exist." The old pear orchard is part of 455 acres Jacksonville wants to add to its urban growth boundary, the line that determines where the city can grow. The city is working with Jackson County and the state Department of Land Conservation and Development to extend the city�s urban growth boundary to prepare for the 1,000 people who are expected to be added to Jacksonville�s rolls in the next 15 years. The city�s population is predicted to be 3,200 by the year 2015. A final hearing in the urban growth boundary discussion is set for 6 p.m. Monday in the large group room at Jacksonville Elementary School. Jacksonville is one of the few cities in Oregon that has property inside the city limits but outside the urban growth boundary � 300 of 455 proposed acres are in the city limits, said Paul Wyntergreen, city administrator. That means that property owners can�t subdivide their land. "You can�t do anything with your property," said Mark Weiss, who owns 3 acres on Shafer Lane near the Texaco station. "If we wanted to do something on our land right now, we could only put one home and that would require a conditional use permit," Weiss said. But inside the urban growth boundary, the property could hold six or seven homes, plus an extension of Shafer Lane, he said. The city has already recognized Weiss� need to bring his land into the urban growth boundary. It�s included on four maps hanging at City Hall that illustrate how the city, county and state have been working together for the past four years to create a boundary that will accommodate growth while satisfying state demands. Jacksonville has already satisfied some of the state requirements. But it still needs acreage for 122 multi-family units, 7.26 acres of commercial land, cottage industries and a bypass, Wyntergreen said. The multi-family needs can be met by building apartments or duplexes near Autumn Lane, where homes are valued at about $500,000; near Pair-a-dice Ranch Road, where homes are valued at about $200,000; or Shafer Lane near an older, conventional subdivision closer to downtown. The business needs can be met by turning the Wright orchard into a commercial zone. A commercial zone would also create a much-needed buffer between a manufactured home park, a tree farm owned by Weyerhaeuser and the proposed bypass, Wyntergreen said. "In our current commercial zone, we have small lots and high-margin businesses that cater to the tourists," he said. "We need a large-lot commercial area so we can attract shops like a hardware store that can service our local community." That the Wright orchard will someday hold businesses and the bypass works well for everyone, said Mike Lanier, of Richard Stevens Co., the orchard�s agent. "As towns grow to their urban growth boundaries, the process is designed to allow cities � based on the criteria � to expand to accommodate growth," Lanier said. "That means farmland can be converted to urban uses if reasons to do that can be justified." City seizes reins of bypass JACKSONVILLE � Since the state has run out of money to build a bypass to route traffic away from downtown Jacksonville, the city wants to build it itself. Part of the changes in the urban growth boundary make it possible for the city to have the bypass built in sections, said Paul Wyntergreen, city administrator. The route would connect Pair-a-Dice Ranch Road to Jacksonville Highway, helping to route aggregate truck traffic away from the city�s old, red-brick buildings. Jacksonville has talked about building a bypass for nearly 40 years. But during these pending urban growth boundary discussions, the city will look at a new way to create the dream route. If the Wright orchard is re-zoned commercial, developers who buy the land would be required to build a stretch of the bypass as part of their project. "We could say, �Develop it, but preserve this portion for right of way for the bypass,� or we could go one step further and ask them to build the section," Wyntergreen said. "We could build the road piece by piece." The state likes the idea, said John Vial, district manager for the Oregon Department of Transportation. "We applaud the city of Jacksonville for trying to solve its own problems and aggressively pursuing options," Vial said. "We want to help in any way we can." The state did not allocate money to fund the Jacksonville bypass in the 2004-05 biennium, Vial said. Instead, all local funds are reserved for the new South Medford interchange. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.