Ashland School Board approves developer for Sunstone housing project after hearing opposition from soccer community on site location

After hearing public comment, school board Chair Rebecca Dyson responded to the comments and expressed the board's goal to do good things for the kids of the district. She showed the gathering a sticker that is on the back side of each of their name plates that asks “Is it good for the kids?” Ashland.news photo by Bob Palermini
December 24, 2024

School board chair promises to provide alternative field

By Morgan Rothborne, Ashland.news 

Following an outspoken public comment period mainly opposing the project, Ashland School Board voted Thursday evening to approve a development team tasked by the Sunstone Housing Collaborative to build a housing complex at Lincoln Field on North Mountain Avenue. 

Krista Palmer, Executive Director of Sunstone, presented the selection of a development team composed of Companies Edlen & CO, Outlier construction, Arkitek, and the Greater Ashland Community Land Trust during the one-hour special work session. The development team was among nine entities that applied for the job of building a 91-unit apartment accessible housing complex at the corner of Main Street and Mountain Avenues, currently the site of an athletic field used by soccer and ultimate frisbee athletes, both affiliated with Ashland School District, and others that are not, including the Ashland Soccer Club.

The 4.18 acre lot highlighted in blue bounded by South Mountain Avenue on the west, East Main Street on the north and Lincoln Street on the east, as shown on a county assessor’s map, is the site of a proposed housing complex.

Sunstone, a nonprofit, put out a request for proposals seeking partners that aimed at being responsive to community feedback, potentially offer internships or other opportunities to high school students, prioritize open spaces and universal design concepts, she said. 

The project, recently tagged at a range of $1.75 million to $2.25 million, aims to directly impact the district’s declining enrollment by adding housing that is aimed at being affordable for local residents, including district employees and district students and their families.

A sign on a fence surrounding an approximately 4.2-acre site bounded on three sides by East Main Street, Lincoln Street and South Mountain Avenue bears the name of proposed project partners, landowner Ashland School District and a new nonprofit organization, Sunstone Housing Collaborative. Ashland.news photo by Bob Palermini

The proposed development, if completed, would not fill the $2.2 million budget gap announced by the district in November, even though the shortfall is similar in amount to the price of the development proposal, Sunstone founders Jill Franko and Dan Ruby, who are also school board members, previously told Ashland.news.

Palmer described the process of selecting the team as a moment “to finally see the culmination of what had been dreams in a somewhat tangible form.” If approved, the team would begin with listening sessions in the new year. Surveys will be put to the public for further input to create a truly community informed project, she said. 

The public gallery was full to capacity at the Ashland School Board special meeting on Dec. 19 to select a developer for an affordable housing project.

Board member Russell Hatch asked when the threshold for selling the property would be crossed and Palmer stated a number of things would need to fall into place first which could take a year or so. 

The audience filled every chair and more stood along the walls. They shifted in their seats and  became increasingly vocal, largely in opposition to the project. 

Ruby described decades of dropping enrollment and unfavorable population projections. Housing and under-enrollment are “inextricably linked,” he said, pointing to Medford’s school district with four times the enrollment of Ashland’s and a median housing price four times the median income. Ashland’s housing costs are around 10 times more than median income.  

Krista Palmer, executive director of Sunstone Housing Collaborative, told the Ashland School District board that, after reviewing 10 proposals from groups willing to work on the district’s plan to build affordable housing on district land, they were recommending going with the proposal from Edlen & Co, Outlier Construction and Arkitek.

Grand Terrace — the largest housing project to offer muli-family and affordable housing in Ashland — was scrapped last year after 10 years of opposition. Over 100 students in the district are currently homeless and families can be expected to choose where to live based on where attractive and affordable housing is available, he said. 

School boards around the country are doing this kind of work, Board Member Franko said, since it’s a nationwide problem. The district has done considerable research to do it well, she said. The Sunstone Housing Collaborative was established as a 501(c)(3) at the end of 2023 because ASD did not have the bandwidth to address housing, so a nonprofit was created to do the work. 

Architect Christopher Brown, principal at Arkitek, answered questions from the board after Krista Palmer’s presentation.

The district looked at housing created by districts in other states and reviewed properties it owned. TRAILS was considered but determined to be too close to the railroad tracks. Willow Wind was considered but it is outside the city’s urban growth boundary. The high school athletic field’s property is close to public transit and already in the right zoning for a housing project. 

The city has other priorities then to bring Willow Wind’s property into the UGB, Ruby said. 

“This is not a city problem, this is a district problem, nobody has been solving it for us over the last 20 years, and no heroes are visible on the horizon. … We need to take some agency,” he said. 

Robb Mayers, Chief Executive Officer and owner of Outlier Construction Company, talked about his company’s internship program and how Ashland High School students have gained construction business-related experience with the company.

Board Chair Rebecca Dyson opened public comment with a warning there probably wouldn’t be time to get through the volume of requests to comment, most of which were in opposition to the project and reflected the sentiments shared in a petition opposing the project started by Marie Caballero Uhtoff, Ashland High School’s women’s soccer coach. The petition states the following:

“Ashland Soccer Club has grown in just 4 years from 150 kids to 350 currently. Many of these kids will continue to play at Ashland High School,” the petition reads. “Sports are an inexpensive way for the community to support kids in their physical and emotional development. Athletics give kids a safe, fun, and engaging way to spend their free time. With only one playable multi-use sports field at the high school, the majority of student athletes will have to go off campus to participate in sports. This deprives our student athletes of a safe, convenient place to play soccer and football. The more barriers we put up for students to participate in sports, the less participation there will be. Coaches strive to build a strong community with their teams. By spreading out the varsity and junior varsity teams on different fields that require parents to provide transportation to and from school will make participating in sports prohibitive for some and building a community amongst the teams difficult.” 

Ross Jacques was among those who commented. He said he could understand why a housing project next to the school seemed attractive but the board had “gone rogue” in stepping toward housing when it should be focused on supporting students and teachers, support that could include improving the well-used athletic field rather than developing it. 

“On the surface, this seems like a great idea. … But it’s more complicated than that, and may work against its intentions,” he said. 

The board allocated 30 minutes of the meeting to hear public comment that included parents and many student athletes. Most of the statements were against the district selling the 4.2-acre site, currently an athletic practice field, on the southeast corner of East Main Street and North Mountain Avenue.

Dyson told the audience that, in the interest of saving time, they may want to hold their applause to the end of the public comment period, but they were only silent after ​​Matthew Havniear expressed support for the project. While Havniear had played sports on that field himself, he said, as deputy director of the Jackson County Long Term Recovery Group, the need for housing was undeniable. 

Jessica Dohrmann said as a high school freshman and member of the girl’s varsity soccer team she had seen friends transfer to schools with better programs for sports such as cross country but some of her teammates came to Ashland High for its soccer team. She questioned why the district would stunt prospective growth. 

“How are you going to compensate for taking this away from us?” Dohrmann said. 

Reese Donovan said she turned 12 two weeks ago and hoped to play soccer once she got to high school. Her team at Ashland Middle School was practicing at odd hours due to lack of available field space, sometimes pushing her 8 p.m. bedtime. Some days they go to Medford to practice and those days “feel different, harder,” she said. 

“I love school and it’s very important that I do well. It’s not great to feel tired at school or rushed at night doing my homework. … even at 12 years old I know some moms and dads can’t drive their kids to Medford,” she said. 

Dyson attempted to end the public comment period and was informed by the audience that 10 minutes remained on the clock. A handful of additional speakers offered similar comments, with Ashland High School Junior Class President Kaya Lutz saying she was aware of frequent near-traffic accidents due to lack of parking near the school. 

Sixteen-year school board member Eva Skuratowicz thanks those at the Dec. 19 special school board meeting who provided input to the board via public comment.

Students driving further for practice or competing for parking with a new housing development would exacerbate this issue. Being far from the school would also prevent access to the athletic trainer who frequently assists with injuries during practice, she said. Losing a field near the school is an overall safety issue for student athletes, Lutz said. 

“I keep hearing these words, but where was the community outreach with the athletes and the athletes parents?” asked Dan Ulster. 

Susie Lutz asked why the district had not investigated hundreds of families that left the district and public education altogether, questioning if they had fully considered all possible causes and solutions for under enrollment. 

“I feel like we have really turned this into an ‘or’ situation — this can be an ‘and’ situation,” Dyson said as she closed public comment. 

She told the audience she would make a promise to find an athletic field within walking distance of the school and that she was in possession of a list with 11 potential fields. 

“We will find a field for your kids, we will not deny our kids. … I do make that promise, it does come from the heart, and that is with every best intention for everyone in this room,” she said. 

Dyson made a motion to approve the proposed development team. The board approved the developers 4-0. Ruby stated that, while it is not a conflict of interest to be a school board member and a member of a nonprofit’s board at the same time, he would abstain from the vote. 

Email Ashland.news reporter Morgan Rothborne at [email protected]. Ashland.news reporter Holly Dillemuth contributed to this report.

Dec. 24: The paragraph on the board vote edited to remove redundant information.

Related stories:

Ashland School Board sets value range of soccer field proposed for development at $1.745 to $2.25 million (Dec. 4, 2024)

Accessible housing project proposed for school district playing field property on East Main Street (Nov. 8, 2024)

Picture of Bert Etling

Bert Etling

Bert Etling is the executive editor of Ashland.news. Email him at [email protected].

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