Ashlanders discuss their concerns about parks, the homeless shelter and growth of the city with councilors and city officials

By Damian Mann for Ashland.news

Ashland’s Oak Knoll Golf Course was a fitting setting Tuesday for the City Council’s first Coffee & Conversation gathering of the year.

The nine-hole course has been a hot topic among some Ashland residents, with some suggesting the city find other purposes for the land or just sell it.

“I was criticized because we didn’t turn the golf course into a pickleball court,” Councilor Jeff Dahle said.

Dahle, who acknowledged he’s left a few divots on the course over the years, and Councilor Dylan Bloom fielded questions from about a dozen people at the clubhouse during the Coffee & Conversation. More such events planned through the summer. Last year, the city held three of the get-togethers.

Other city officials attended, including City Manager Sabrina Cotta, Deputy City Manager Jordan Rooklyn and Parks & Recreation Director Rocky Houston.

Group chats and one-on-one

Dahle and Bloom talked to residents for more than two hours, sitting down for one-on-one conversations and group chats.

“Any time you can have great interactions with the community, sign me up,” Dahle said.

Bloom answered questions on a number of topics, including pickleball, the homeless shelter, expansion of park lands and the future of Ashland.

“I want to find a balance between tradition and modernity,” he said. “How do we have an Ashland for everybody?”

Bloom said he’s seeing an increasing bifurcation of Ashland between the north half, with its focus on the downtown, and the south half, with Mountain Avenue the rough dividing line.

Both councilors got into lively conversations, offering a chance to hear about a variety of concerns. Bloom was particularly concerned about Ashland resident Corrie Frank’s frustration over her efforts to host a national pickleball tournament in Ashland this June.

Planned pickleball tournament downsized

Frank said she’d expected 300 people to show up for the pickleball tournament, if she could get a permit to hold the event at Hunter Park.

Frank told the councilors her permit for Hunter Park, which could have accommodated eight pickleball courts, was denied.

After Bloom heard her frustrations, he said to Dahle, “You should hear this.”

“The sad reality is we’re losing revenue,” she said.

The event would have lined up food trucks and would have helped fill local hotels, and people would have paid $60 each to attend, Frank said.

“We lost all of that,” she said.

Instead the pickleball tournament has been scaled back to Lithia Park, but the event will be able to accommodate only 100 people, she said.

Hunter Park isn’t specifically designed to handle pickleball, she was told by parks officials, but Frank offered to use painter’s tape to make an outline of a pickleball court.

Houston, the parks director, told Frank the city would require more analysis to determine how pickleball could fit into the programming at Hunter Park and how it would affect other users.

After talking with city officials, Frank said she found the reasons for denying the permit unclear and she found the local parks system too slow to respond to the needs of locals.

“The sad reality is that people are going to Medford because they can’t do it here,” Frank said.

Concern over possible Madrone Ridge Ranch

Ashland resident Candace Williams sat down for a long conversation with Bloom, voicing her concern about the city’s possible acquisition of the Madrone Ridge Ranch, a 1,972-acre property on Ashland Mine Road that has the potential to expand mountain biking trails and preserve green space.

Organizations involved in mountain biking have expressed interest in the property for years.

The city, which hasn’t finalized any purchase, has made overtures to the property’s owner.

“I was shocked when you did this,” said Williams, who lives close to Madrone Ridge. She said Parks & Recreation is dealing with budget issues right now, so she was surprised the city would think about adding more park land.

Bloom said a deal is far from finalized.

“I want to see the data,” he said. “I don’t want to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ until I see the data, and not just go on a feeling.”
Bloom said he didn’t want the city to get stuck with a potential “albatross.”

Instead he wanted to know what it would take to manage a property like that.

“I want to see the costs,” Bloom said.

Wallace was unconvinced, pointing out that the city appears to undertake projects it can’t really afford.

“You can make the numbers come out any way you want,” she said.

Homeless shelter frustration

Wallace said the city already has hung one “albatross” around its neck, citing the issues involved in keeping the homeless shelter at 2200 Ashland St. open.

The structure, is a repurposed office building, has faced regulatory limitations required to protect people staying in the building in case of fire. It has been closed for long periods while the city works through the steps needed to remodel it to meet fire regulations to allow overnight sleeping.

Councilors have previously expressed frustration that the building hasn’t been available to use as a shelter.

Bloom said the building is in the process of being remodeled.

Williams asked Bloom, “How did it go off the rails?”

Bloom responded, “We didn’t have all the information.”

After the event began winding down, Ashland resident Olena Black expressed her concern that the city wasn’t properly following the intent of Senate Bill 100, the landmark Oregon bill that set the stage for cities to plan for orderly growth to protect forest and agricultural land.

Black said Ashland abandoned a citizen advisory committee more than 20 years ago, even though she said it was a requirement under SB 100.

“They’re not following the law,” she said.

She said updates to the city’s comprehensive plan need to be redone, particularly because of the obvious impacts of climate change.

Black, who said her family originally came to Oregon in covered wagons, said she worries the city hasn’t adequately developed strategies to deal with climate change and its impacts on housing, sewers, transportation and other planning goals.

“We know climate change is one of those variables,” she said. “We need to look at how it affects the infrastructure.”

Reach writer Damian Mann at [email protected].