Aug. 1, 2005

A dozen Ashland dilemmas

By Marilyn Briggs
Ashland

Why do national magazines keep putting Ashland on the lists of “best places to live” in the U.S.? Are the authors not aware of the following dilemmas currently facing our city?

1. John McLaughlin, “Mac,” head of the Ashland Planning Department, resigned and leaves for another community soon. Many issues will be delayed until his replacement is chosen.

2. Police Chief Mike Bianca is under fire from some in his own department.

3. Ashland Fiber Network is in a financial crisis, without a professional director, and supported with considerable help from nonuses’ money.

4. The head of the city engineering department, Paula Brown, is also an officer in the “Reserves” and is now serving in Fallujah, Iraq. Her tour lasts through next spring and some of her duties are “farmed out.”

5. The proposed Mount Ashland expansion into the headwaters of our watershed is highly controversial and the city, as “lessor,” is being asked to administer environmental and financial oversight.

6. The Affordable Housing Department faces a relentless nationwide issue. The proposed “Real Estate Transfer Tax” intended for “afforable” funding cost is contentious.

7. The city charter review/revision study has been completed after yearlong citizen involvement and is waiting to be discussed and implemented by city council.

8. Several Measure 37 encroachments, nearby but outside the city boundaries, are impending, as well as current and possible suits within city limits.

9. Downtown Plan revisions are on hold, which in turn stall ongoing development plans.

10. Two of the five elementary schools have closed recently due to lack of enrollment.

11. A widespead belief holds that Ashland developers are overly aggressive, building way too much, way too fast.

12. The swim hole at the end of Lithia Park is currently posted as contaminated.

Who has the vision to take on the Herculean task of prioritizing these problems and implementing solutions?

We all do: the planning department, city council/mayor, city administrator, you, and me.

For my part, as a recently retired eight-year member of the Planning Commission, I personally extend a sincere thank you to John McLaughlin knowing he will be sorely missed. In defense of “Mac,” he is not alone responsible for a perceived breakdown in planning. The sheer volume and often overscaled building projects overwhelm our planning department’s oversight. The review committee that chooses Mac’s successor must choose a person both knowledgeable in planning and a master of public relations.

I personally ask the aggressive developers to meaningfully walk their talk about building “assets to the community” as they and their phalanx of lawyers and specialists repeatedly assert in the public hearings. Understandably, money is on the line. However, our “livability” is a mandated priority in Ashland’s Comprehensive Plan, and citizens intend to hold developers’ feet to the fire to guarantee that right.

Lastly, I personally date some current problems to a past city council’s misguided revision of the 45,000-square-foot maximum building ordinance (“Big Box”) to mean a 45,000-square-foot “footprint.” Sensibly, that “footprint” interpretation has been reversed, but not before causing major fallout. Furthermore, current council members do not all share the burden of speaking/inquiring at the public meetings; some fail to contribute to the opinions that lead to the votes. This condition has seeded contentious situations and personal attacks.

Everyone together ought to slow down, communicate, and compromise in order to reduce and resolve the dilemmas. Then, and only then, do we really belong among the “best places to live” in the U.S.!