Housing

Land in Ashland is expensive, and we shouldn’t let our own processes make it worse. My priority is a permitting path that doesn’t add cost or delay to housing we’ve already zoned for.

We’ve done a lot of the zoning work. Ashland’s Housing Production Strategy was the first in Oregon approved by the state. I helped shape the draft as a volunteer on the advisory committee, then voted to adopt it once I joined the council. I’ll keep pressing for full implementation. We’ve land-banked for community land trust homes and approved zoning and sale protections for existing manufactured home parks.

We’ve eliminated minimum off-street parking requirements citywide. And we’ve designated Climate Friendly Areas on the vacant railroad property and along the Ashland Street corridor, where zoning now sets minimum residential densities, removes density caps, and allows buildings tall enough for four floors of housing above ground-floor commercial. We made similar changes downtown, where multifamily housing is now allowed outright.

But zoning is permission, not production. The next job is shortening the path from permission to a finished home. The council identified 14 specific proposals in August and September and staff and our advisory committees are fleshing them out. One would set measurable design standards in place of case-by-case judgment, so applicants know what’s expected before they draw plans, without giving up the design quality Ashland expects. I look forward to voting on each of the proposals.

When we’re talking about affordable housing, zoning and permitting alone won’t get us there. I want to move forward on the construction excise tax that our Housing Production Strategy calls for. Yes, that’s a cost on construction, and I think it’s a trade worth making when the revenue goes to housing people can actually afford.