Opinions on affordable housing, pickleball, contaminated land were all voiced

By Damian Mann for Ashland.news

Almost 30 residents showed up at Ashland’s Railroad Park Tuesday to speak their minds with city officials on a variety of issues, including contaminated land, affordable housing, wildfire evacuations — and pickleball.

During the second of six “Coffee & Conversations” this year with residents, city staff and council members, the tone was polite but direct.

Affordable housing

“How are we going to bring Willow Wind into the city?” former Ashland Mayor Alan DeBoer asked Councilor Eric Hansen, who attended along with Councilor Bob Kaplan.

“That’s a good question,” Hansen said. 

DeBoer said the state has changed the rules to make it easier to bring properties — such as the 44-acre Willow Wind Community Learning Center, located along Main Street — into city limits. Currently, it sits just outside the city.

DeBoer said he bought the land for the school district years ago, and “that (it) was our dream to have affordable housing on the front part of it.”

Hansen said the city has been working on attracting affordable housing projects.

“We’re doing great things, but we need to do more,” he said.

DeBoer said, “The city screwed up on affordable housing over and over and over again”

Hansen said,“I’ll take your word on it for now.” 

As part of the city’s long-range strategic planning efforts, affordable housing is at the top of the list, Hansen said. DeBoer cited the example of the new Beach Creek subdivision off Mountain Avenue as an affordable housing venture that did not deliver, saying the developer was supposed to give six lots but gave two.

Hansen disagreed. “He ended up having to give six,” he said.

“I don’t think he gave six,” DeBoer responded.

Hansen replied, “He gave six.”

Two of the lots were built by Habitat for Humanity, and the remaining four are in a “land bank” reserved for affordable housing, Hansen said. The land-banked properties will be part of a request for proposals that will be sent out to affordable housing developers. This will allow a developer to take on multiple projects at a time, Hansen said.

“You know that Habitat would build on those four lots,” DeBoer said, again referring to the Beach Creek subdivision.

Hansen said Habitat for Humanity has said they can’t take on any more projects this year.

“It’s too bad they had such a hard time with Beach Street, trying to plug in and build those houses,” Hansen said.

The four lots are now set aside for future affordable housing. DeBoer said it appears the city is learning after other affordable housing projects failed to materialize. He cited a previous six-lot project on Clay Street where only three of the lots were built for affordable housing before the developer sold off the remaining three lots.

Contaminated soils

Another topic of discussion was visible from Railroad Park — an 11.7 acre property with contaminated soil that has been the subject of much concern for decades in Ashland.

“I’ve been living here since 1980, and they’ve been kicking the can down the road,” said Alan Adleman, who lives in the Railroad District.

The railroad property was used by Southern Pacific as a refueling, maintenance and repair yard for about 100 years. Councilor Kaplan said he’s hopeful the city could see work being done to address the contaminated soil by late summer or the fall.

“Plans were approved over a year ago, and there was no significant objection,” he said.

Instead of removing the contaminated soil and taking it elsewhere for disposal, Kaplan said the idea is to remove the soil and put it on a low spot on the property.

“It will be capped over with over a foot of soil,” he said.

The capped-over area could potentially be a parking lot.

“I personally think it would have been better to cart it away,” Kaplan said. “There were a lot of people who didn’t like that.”

Because of the contaminants, the property is zoned for multi-family residential rather than single family residential with yards, he said.

After the cleanup work, Kaplan said he hopes the railroad sells the property to a developer.

Adelman said he’d heard the rules keep changing about how deep the ground has to be dug to remove the contaminants. According to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, the contaminants include heavy metals, including arsenic and lead, and heavy hydrocarbons associated with bunker fuel and other petroleum products.

Contaminated soil would be removed from 1.5 feet to nine feet, depending on the location, according to the DEQ.

Adelman said, “Personally I think they need to do more. It’s a compromise and I’m down with it.”

Pickleball

Pickleball supporters told city officials that more courts are needed to keep up with demand and to help attract tournaments.

“Hunter Park would the the perfect spot,” said Lynn “Coz” Costantino, noting the local pickleball groups could potentially raise the $8,000 to $10,000 to help with the project.

“I don’t disagree with you,” responded Rocky Houston, Ashland Parks and Recreation Director.

He said the Parks Commission has to fully analyze the needs of the community before it starts building pickleball courts.

“What I’m thinking of is being a good neighbor,” Houston said. “There are many lawsuits across the nation in regards to pickleball and neighbors, and I don’t want to have a litigious engagement with my neighbors.”

Costantino said there are few options for people to play pickleball in Ashland.

“I’m rooting for pickleball because it’s such a growing sport, and I’m rooting for economic development ” Costantino said. “The only place to play is in Lithia Park, and we’re always chatting with tourists and visitors.”

Houston said, “What I can let you and the other pickleballers know is that the commission and I have concurred and understand the need.”

Corrie Frank, who expressed frustration about downsizing a pickleball tournament in Ashland during the last Coffee and Conversations, suggested putting in a couple of pickleball courts at North Mountain Park.

She added, “We’d like to see those back four courts at Hunter Park as multi-use for pickleball and tennis.”

Councilor Hansen encouraged Frank to continue to make appeals to city officials for more courts.

“The wheels of government do turn slowly, but they do move,” he said “Keep on the list and keep voicing your opinion.”

Hansen said he was a pickleball player himself, and he said a neighbor converted a private tennis court into a pickleball court. Gail Patton, a local tennis pro, also voiced support for more pickleball courts.

“I agree that you guys need more courts, but they should be completely separate from tennis,” she said.

Wildfire planning

As the get-together wound down, Tom Besich reflected on what he saw as a major oversight after talking to city officials.

He said better planning to evacuate Ashland from a wildfire seems to be ignored after the lessons from the 2020 Almeda fire, and he’s heard reports that getting everyone out of the city could take hours. Besich, who raised the issue at a Coffee & Conversations event last year, said the city needs to get rid of impediments along Highway 99 that might block traffic, and said the city should look at getting rid of the “road diet.”

“I think the city has given up,” he said. “Where’s the capital investment to save thousands of lives?”

Reach writer Damian Mann at [email protected]