City council annexes nine Allen Creek parcels, approves new city zoning to encourage housing

Grants Pass City Council voted unanimously April 16 to annex nine parcels along Allen Creek Road into the city limits and to amend comprehensive plan and zoning designations on the properties to allow higher-density housing than current county rules permit.

The annexation and accompanying zone-map change are intended to accelerate housing development on roughly 22.5 acres that now sit outside the city, Bradley Clark, a community development staff member, told the council. “This effort actually started more than three years ago,” Clark said, describing the city-funded planning and transportation work that preceded the applications.

Clark said the city paid for a required Oregon Department of Transportation transportation impact analysis and offered to cover annexation costs for property owners who asked the city to move their parcels through the process. The parcels include five privately owned lots and four city-owned lots that previously were held as park reserve land, he said. Once annexed, the properties will receive city zoning of R-2 and R-3 (moderate- and high-density residential) and city services, including access to a recently approved stormwater retention facility and planned street improvements.

The council heard that the proposed changes would allow an estimated 298 housing units on the combined acreage. Clark said higher-density projects already approved on the north end of Allen Creek — including a 63-unit project called Allen Creek Crossing — informed the recommended land-use designations.

Councilor Rick moved and Councilor Eric seconded the motion to adopt the annexation ordinance on first reading; the vote was unanimous. The council conducted a second reading and approved the annexation ordinance unanimously. The council likewise approved the related comprehensive plan and zone map amendments in separate motions, each passing unanimously on first and second readings.

The council did not receive written public comments before the meeting and heard no speakers during the public comment period on the item, Clark said. Staff noted that some private owners whose land was not adjacent to city limits could not be included because Oregon law requires annexed parcels to touch existing city boundaries.

What’s next: If the council’s annexation ordinance is finalized, the city will notify the Josephine County Assessor and the Oregon Department of Revenue so map and jurisdictional records can be adjusted. Developers may file land-use and construction applications once the annexations are effective and the properties are added to the city’s zoning map.

The council’s actions on Allen Creek are explicitly tied to its goal of facilitating “sustainable and manageable growth” and to impending transportation and stormwater infrastructure the city expects to have in place as development proceeds.