Fregonese: Ashland not sustainable

Ashland cannot be a truly sustainable community until it provides housing and economic opportunities for its workforce, according to former Community Development director John Fregonese.

Fregonese led Ashland's planning department from 1979-92. He went on to become the planning director for Portland Metro and later founded a Portland-based planning firm that has won national awards.

On Thursday night, Fregonese explained to a crowd gathered at Southern Oregon University that true sustainability depends not only on protecting the environment, but on creating social equity and economic success.

"I think Ashland is failing on the triple bottom line of sustainability," he said.

By social equity, Fergonese said he means people are able to earn a living wage and have affordable housing.

In Ashland, however, 55 percent of workers live in other cities. About 4,700 workers commute here every day, he said.

"They're all driving a car. You're responsible for that carbon footprint," Fregonese said.

By limiting growth, Ashland has shifted its demographics toward older, wealthier people and driven out young workers and families, he said.

The city will be affected by a national trend in which the number of people turning 65 years old in America will increase. At the same time, there will be a shortage of younger workers after 2010, Fregonese said.

In the past, businesses went where land was available, but in an era of labor shortages, they will move where they can find young workers — putting Ashland at a disadvantage, he said.

Fregonese said Ashland has not created an economy that provides living wages for young workers. Almost all of its job growth since 1998 has come in retail, with little growth in professional, scientific and technical fields.

A typical worker employed in Ashland's lodging and food service sectors would have to be able to find an apartment for $337 a month for it to be affordable. A third of renters are paying more than half of their income on rent, he said.

Ashland's median household income of $36,400 lags behind the state average of $46,230, Fregonese said.

To address those problems, he said Ashland should do a better job identifying areas for housing, especially high-density infill to take advantage of land within the city.

Although 70 percent of Ashland households have just one or two people, 83 percent of new housing construction has been in the form of single family homes ""many with three or four bedrooms, he said.

The city needs to better understand what makes development projects pencil out, not because that ensures profits for developers, but because it creates housing and jobs that improve social equity, he said.

Additionally, the city needs to have a more predictable approval process for housing and a strategy to attract and retain young people, Fregonese said.

As for the undeveloped site east of Tolman Creek Road that was once home to the Croman Mill, he said the city will end up with expensive housing built there if it follows its traditional practice of assessing system development charges on development there. Those charges are meant to cover the costs new development places on city infrastructure.

Instead, Ashland should consider creating an Urban Renewal District, he said.

Urban Renewal Districts keep existing property taxes flowing into city coffers, but as a site gets developed, the tax money that would have come from increasing property values goes into site improvements.

Fregonese said Ashland has a higher than average number of people who work at home and it should capitalize on that trend. That would encourage entrepreneurs and reduce commuting.

"Then you're designing your city to assume people will be working in their houses, maybe bringing in an employee or two," he said.

Fregonese said the city needs to get people involved in designing a vision for Ashland's future.

"What's next? That's the question for you to answer," he told the crowd of assembled residents.

Staff writer Vickie Aldous can be reached at 479-8199 or vlaldous@yahoo.com.

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