Deadline for state mandate to designate Climate Friendly Areas coming up June 30

By Morgan Rothborne, Ashland.news 

Members of Ashland City Council debated Monday during its study session meeting how to make the need to meet new state requirements an opportunity for improving the city’s housing stock. 

The city is required to be in compliance with the state’s Climate Friendly Areas rules by June 30, said Elizabeth Decker, a land use planning consultant from JET planning. The firm is one of three contracted by the city. 

These Climate Friendly Areas (CFAs) are intended to meet the goals to “designate pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use areas within the City of Ashland sufficient to accommodate 30 percent of the future population,” according to the staff report. 

What’s known as “the railroad property” (east of Oak Street, north of the railroad tracks, south of Hersey Street and west of Starflower Lane) and “the transit triangle” (Siskiyou Boulevard east to Normal Avenue, Ashland Street/Highway 66 east to Exit 14) had been selected as the best locations to create these CFA’s, with zoning changes such as a 50-foot height allowance for buildings, Decker said, and a potential density of up to 15 to 25 units per acre. There could also be limitations on storage to further incentivise areas of town compacted with residential and commercial spaces. 

Decker did not make it very far into the presentation before councilors offered feedback. 

Councilor Eric Hansen questioned the dismissal of previous considerations to include downtown as a CFA. In 30 years downtown has seen no significant changes, he said. He wants to see less parking, more development, and “would love to see a nightclub with apartments above it.”

The code audit and resulting recommendations from JET would include suggested changes to downtown intended to encourage growth, Decker said, but the CFA designation comes with state-mandated allowances. Mayor Tonya Graham noted the city does not allow townhomes downtown now and if it were to become a CFA, “We could not stop them.”

Councilor Jeff Dahle said, as council liaison to the Historic Preservation Advisory Committee, in that committee’s review of these suggested code changes was a protective caution at sweeping code changes intending to balance the city’s growth against protecting its existing charm. 

Councilor Bob Kaplan said he felt the CFA’s did not provide enough density anyway. Mayor Tonya Graham said council had to consider the assumption that density increases would lead to the development of workforce housing. It could simply lead to greater numbers of higher priced apartments as developers follow what the market dictates. 

“Developers know the market does what the market can bear unless there’s some incentive in that space,” she said. 

Councilor Dylan Bloom pointed to the recent developments on Garfield Street and said, at $2,500 monthly rent per unit, this kind of development does not help working families. Councilor Gina DuQuenne agreed a “little postage stamp” for that price was not the right housing stock to fill unmet city needs. 

Hansen and Kaplan voiced overlapping interest in adjusting the city’s code to encourage greater density to encourage developers to build lower priced units, such as limiting driveways and parking spaces. People will rely less on cars in the near future, leading to greater potentials for density, Hansen said. 

Bloom said this was unrealistic — it may be true in the distant future, but the families of today rely on cars. Graham noted the council appeared to be stuck in a point of tension “of building for the future we’re trying to create versus building for the reality we have right now and how do we close that gap.”

Dahle said it would be better, before voicing an opinion, to consult developers, builders and otherwise obtain more information. But when Graham asked each councilor to come to a general consensus to provide direction to continue the CFA code adaptation, a gridlock of opinion emerged between different minimum and maximum densities. 

Dahle was called upon to break the tie and proposed 20, splitting the issue in half. Graham pushed for a 20 or 25 split and council assented. Decker said at the close of her presentation that it was a pleasure to work with a public body so passionate about urban planning. 

In other council business Monday, Deputy City Manager Jordyn Rooklyn presented updated information on the city’s transient lodging tax, sometimes known as the “heads in beds” or bed tax, as the 10% tax on short term lodging within city limits is often known. The funds have supported beautification grants throughout downtown and efforts to increase the volume of small events in Ashland. 

Graham then asked council to participate in an exercise — pretend to be a traveler from Seattle choosing between Eugene, Ashland and Salem for an upcoming weekend. 

After a handful of minutes, councilors took turns affirming that Eugene’s webpage was vibrant and replete with potential activities for St. Patrick’s Day and in general. Salem also had an easy to use and attractive website. Dahle said he “got a 404 (error message) for Ashland,” while Bloom noted the website functioned but seemed to offer information on Fourth of July events. 

The city of Ashland weathered the pandemic better than expected and recovered faster because “what we discovered is people love Ashland, they love to come to Ashland,” Graham said, noting the city’s potential to overcome changes and increase the diversity of its tourism based economy. 

While Ashland’s website was “text heavy” it did appear to have more content overall, said Councilor Doug Knauer. With the right presentation, the city could have what it needs. 

“Everybody else is doing it, we got to get there,” Knauer said. 

Council also heard a brief update on upcoming code changes to bring the city into compliance for manufactured home parks and potentially improve its offering of this form of affordable housing. 

Delores Nims said she loves her home in the Wingspread Mobile Home Park. She owns a two-bedroom of a similar size to homes being built on North Mountain Avenue for a fraction of the cost with a highly reliable and supportive community within the park where people share tools and time together in garage sales and parties all while providing affordable housing, Nims said. 

“We are losing our young families because they can’t afford to live in Ashland. We have closed two grade schools. I do not want to live in a senior community. … Please protect our homes,” she said. 

Dahle said he had attended parties and barbecues at the  park since “before Councilor Bloom was born,” and assured residents of the park his commitment to protecting these parks as an important part of the Ashland community. 

Email Ashland.news reporter Morgan Rothborne at morganr@ashland.news.