Goal: 200 students, reopen a school

A joint housing committee with local government representatives has set a goal to attract 200 new students to Ashland in hopes of opening or reopening an elementary school.

Falling enrollment and budget problems led to the closure of Briscoe Elementary School in 2003 and Lincoln Elementary School in 2005, leaving three elementary schools in town.

Representatives from the Ashland School Board, the Ashland City Council and the Ashland Parks and Recreation Commission have been discussing the lack of affordable housing and the inability of many families to live here.

The joint housing committee identified a number of goals in recent months, including the target to draw enough families to add 200 children to Ashland.

"I think that's a great goal. I'd love to see it become a reality," said Ashland City Councilor Eric Navickas, a member of the committee.

He said the goal is not something that can be accomplished quickly, but is instead a long-term goal.

The joint committee will ask the city of Ashland, the Ashland School District and the parks department to inventory their lands and suggest potential sites for affordable housing.

Navickas said one idea could be to combine city, school and parks maintenance yards to free up land for housing.

The city of Ashland already is making some progress in creating affordable housing for families. The Rogue Valley Community Development Corporation received a federal grant that passed through a city selection process to build a nine-unit affordable housing project near the intersection of Siskiyou Boulevard and Faith Avenue.

Families helped build the homes, and now 13 children live there, RVCDC officials said.

RVCDC is recruiting families for a new six-unit project at Siskiyou Boulevard and Park Street. Kids will likely live there as well, said RVCDC Executive Director Ron Demele.

"We are adding probably a whole classroom in Ashland with those two projects," he said.

The Ashland Parks Commission also has stepped in to help on the housing front.

In 2006, the Parks Commission agreed to set aside a portion of land for affordable housing after it bought property on Clay Street to develop a neighborhood park. The city of Ashland is selling land on Strawberry Lane to reimburse the parks system, which cannot spend city meals tax revenue and system development charges on housing.

Each year, the city receives federal grants that it uses for affordable housing. It will get $150,000 this year, said Ashland Housing Program Specialist Brandon Goldman.

The city could use that money for affordable housing projects and only allow families with kids to live there, he said.

"It's against the Fair Housing Act to restrict housing and say, 'No kids.' Families with children are a protected class," Goldman said. "Oddly enough, families without children are not a protected class. You can limit it to families with children."

Rather than banning single people or families without children from projects, the city could use its affordable housing funds to build two and three-bedroom homes that are attractive to families with children, he said.

The city has teamed with Kendrick Enterprises and ACCESS, Inc. for an affordable housing project with small units that would likely attract single people or couples. The building will be constructed on a city-owned parking lot on Lithia Way.

The joint city, school and park housing committee also set a goal to attract more families in order to help maintain the viability of Ashland Community Hospital.

Working parents would presumably have health insurance through their employers or from private plans.

At a recent City Council meeting, Hospital CEO Mark Marchetti said the city needs to support businesses that provide health insurance because reimbursement rates for government-provided Medicare and Medicaid are too low. Those programs are typically used by retirees.

City Councilor Alice Hardesty, who is on the joint committee, said members recognize that providing affordable housing and promoting high-wage jobs are both needed to bring more families to town.

"The discussion of family wage jobs is definitely the flip side of this discussion," she said. "We need both."

Demele said economic diversification, in addition to building affordable housing, is important to attract families because tourist-related service industry jobs are traditionally low paying.

Drawing high-wage jobs to Ashland also could help Southern Oregon University graduates settle here and start families, he said.

Last week, the city of Ashland hosted a public forum on economic development as part of an effort to update the economic portion of the city's Comprehensive Plan.

Part of that effort involves planning for the development of land north of the railroad tracks and on the former Croman Mill site.

The joint housing committee also set goals to facilitate housing for 20 households with school district employees and 20 households with city and parks employees.

Goldman said once a city employee combines his or her income with that of a spouse, he or she probably would not qualify for the projects the city creates using federal funds. Those federal funds are earmarked for low and moderate-income households. A family of four cannot make more than $42,300.

Staff writer Vickie Aldous can be reached at 479-8199 or vlaldous@yahoo.com. To post an on-line comment, visit www.dailytidings.com.