Mail Tribune News - Strawberry Lane area issues pop up again

Strawberry Lane area issues pop up again

Mail Tribune / Jim Craven

A jogger carefully goes down Strawberry Lane to Granite Street in Ashland. This portion of Strawberry is so steep that cars are allowed only to go down, not up. Residents in the area have mixed feelings about plans to build more housing at the top of the grade, which will require the streets to be paved. Residents would have to pay a share of the cost to install storm drains and sidewalks, as well as pave the roads. The city and the developers would foot the remainder of the bill.

Paving roads would stop erosion, but at steep price

By TONY BOOM

ASHLAND — A kaleidoscope of issues has popped up again as developers and the city attempt to move ahead with an approved subdivision on the largest undeveloped plateau in the city’s hills around Strawberry Lane.

City officials think $734,000 is a lot to pay for their share of roads, sidewalks and storm drains. Developers hold a permit that expires in June 2002. They face roughly $1 million in road costs.

Dust, speeding, cost worry residents

Unpaved Strawberry Lane ends just above Lithia Park at Granite Street, winding steeply uphill past homes nestled in trees to the plateau where developers hope to add houses.

Alnutt Street and a portion of Scenic Drive are also unpaved.

"Neighbors moved up there just for the rural feel a few blocks from the Plaza," said Community Development Director John McLaughlin. "It’s completely different than what you find elsewhere in Ashland."

"Everybody runs here. It’s shady, it’s cool," said Scenic Drive resident Arlene Mills. "A paved road will change the character. It’s a dirt road. It’s county."

"Last time it was well over $10,000 (per resident to pay for improvements). I’ll go along with that ($4,140 cost)," said Merle Mills, Arlene’s husband. "The dust and dirt ... gets to be a pain."

Merle hopes the paved street’s width won’t take out two large oaks on the edge of his property. "You hate to lose trees," he said.

"It does upset me because a developer up above decided to (build) and we have to pay for the improvements," said Elizabeth Reid of Strawberry Lane. "I’m glad they put a cap on the LID. It seems like the city can’t afford to do their part."

Reid also worries that a paved road will increase traffic, speeding and accidents. "When there’s frost on the paved road they’d end up in the park," said Reid.

Removal of trees along the road would change the nature of the neighborhood, said a Strawberry Lane resident who asked not to be identified. He would be against the work if it involved cutting down large trees. He is not in favor of a sidewalk, but thinks paving would reduce the amount of dust raised during the summer.

Neighbors fear their rural atmosphere around the gravel street will be lost, and they have safety concerns about the steep roads. Paving would prevent the roads from being washed out, improve air quality and reduce erosion into storm drains.

The City Council approved a subdivision of 21 half-acre lots in the area in 1998, requiring the paving of dirt roads that provide access. A local improvement district (LID) was formed to spread costs among the city, current residents and developers.

The improvement district would collect fees from area residents to help pave Strawberry Lane below its intersection with Alnutt Street to Granite Street, Alnutt Street, Scenic Drive and Westwood from the north to Strawberry. Storm drains and sidewalks would be installed. Alnutt and the lower portion of Strawberry Lane would be one-way, paved to a 12-foot width.

The improvements will cost the city an estimated at $734,000. Developers would pay $140,000 and about 60 residents in the area would pay $202,600. Developers would pay separately to pave Strawberry Lane from Alnutt to Westwood — estimated to cost $800,000 to $900,000.

"I do think the cost of three-quarters of a million ... is excessive," said Mayor Alan DeBoer.

The council placed a cap on improvement district costs imposed on residents the same year the Strawberry Lane subdivision was approved. Earlier improvement district bills had run as high as $38,000. Strawberry Lane neighbors each would pay a maximum of $4,140.

At a work session last week, the City Council directed DeBoer to try to get developers to contribute a larger share. He also plans to schedule a meeting with neighbors in the area.

Property owners Meg Brown, Doug Neuman and Paul Hwoschinsky submitted a joint application for the project. Extensions are possible for their permit, which expires next year, but usually aren’t granted when ordinances change to prohibit certain types of development.

"Since (the permit issue date) we have developed hillside standards," said John McLaughlin, community development director. "Some lots — about three or four — couldn’t be developed."

A permit can be extended if circumstances keep developers from starting a project. The delay in figuring out how much everyone involved will pay may qualify, said McLaughlin.

Brown, who lives on a lot the subdivision would create, is upset that property owners below her were allowed to subdivide while she couldn’t.

"Most signed papers saying when an LID was proposed they would participate," said Brown. "I feel like the people who live down below got the cake and aren’t having to participate in a very equitable way."

Brown will probably place a mortgage on her house to finance her share of the project. "I may end up saying ‘this is too expensive for me’ and I won’t do it."

"We have worked to create a rural-type neighborhood where people can take advantage of the park and open space (that) the city has done such a great job to acquire," said Neuman. "I am always willing to look at options and always willing to make things work."

"There’s always been a desire on the city’s part to take care of those streets up there," said McLaughlin. "During the flood (of 1997) we lost upper Strawberry and had to rebuild it and re-bury a sewer line."

City crews must deal with eroded dirt coming down the streets into storm drains. Dirt roads also create air quality problems when cars kick up dust.

Reach Ashland bureau reporter Tony Boom at 482-4651, or e-mail tboom@mailtribune.com


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