The Copeland Lumber Site Charrette

The City of Ashland, in conjunction with local developers Russ Dale & Kristin Dale and Evan Archerd & Hal Dresner, is holding a public Charrette process for the Copeland Lumber site on Lithia Way in downtown Ashland. The City and the developers are looking at opportunities for addressing concerns regarding downtown development and using the Charrette process as a tool to incorporate public input in a design process.

A Charrette is "a collaborative planning process that harnesses the talents and energies of all interested parties to create and support a buildable plan." At this point there is no design concept for the Copeland Lumber site.

Charrette
The Charrette process began with a public input kick-off on October 30th. Over 40 people attended the meeting, representing viewpoints from the City Council, Planning Commission, City staff, Historic Commission, Friends of Ashland, B street residents, downtown merchants, professional architects and planners, citizens at large, the project developer, and the project architects. The meeting included presentations from the project architects (Portland-based GBD), local historian George Kramer, and City Planning Director John McLaughlin. After the presentations, the meeting broke down into seven small groups to work on a community vision for the Copeland site. Review the notes from this meeting.

The project architects, along with local architect Jerome White, landscape architect John Galbraith, and historic consultant George Kramer, will spend the next few weeks working on alternative designs that reflect the input from the October 30th meeting as well as critical engineering, financial and market data.

At the beginning of the Charrette in December, the architects will present several alternatives for public review. They will spend the next two days in Ashland making changes based on the input and then present the revised designs for public review on the final evening. The architects will then test and refine their work for presentation at the January follow-up meeting.

For more information about the Charrette process call 482-2663 or 482-8856.

Agenda on October 30th Kickoff Meeting