City commission approves rezoning of Holy Rosary parcels
Change will give church greater flexibility in how to use the parcels on Cedar St. andWashington Ave.
Members of the Medford Planning Commission cleared the way for Holy Rosary Catholic Church to have more flexibility with using land it owns in the city.
Members of the planning commission on Monday voted unanimously, with Kris Brandner absent, to approve rezoning of parcels at 326, 328 and 405 W. Cedar St. and 212 and 214 S. Washington Ave. from R-2 one and two family residential use to G-1, institutional use.
The city created the institutional use zoning several years ago to increase the flexibility for things such as churches, government buildings and hospitals in regard to how they can develop parcels to meet their needs.
Brent Hallgren of the Holy Rosary Parish Council explained that at this point in the process, they are “checking boxes” to ensure that the land is properly zoned for future parish needs. The parcels include the location of the former Michael Cypher Center building as well as some rental homes, all of which have been demolished. The Cypher Center lot is currently used for church parking.
Hallgren said there are no plans to use any of the parcels for residential purposes in the future.
According to city planner Bob Christensen, the church has expressed interest in constructing a large storage building on two of the parcels. Christensen noted that part of the action was to clean up the status of the former Cypher Center lots and make sure it was zoned for institutional use.
A public hearing was held prior to Monday’s meeting. With no one present to ask questions or raise objections commission members approved the rezoning request. The request next goes to the full city council for final approval.
Site plan review
Members of the planning commission gave their approval to site plan for a proposed 40-unit apartment complex that will be built by Commonwealth on a parcel adjacent to the Northcentral Technical College campus on Progressive Ave. in Medford.
The developer received WHEDA tax credits for the project to construct income-qualified “workforce housing.” The parcel is located across Progressive Ave. from Marathon Cheese.
Christensen said the plans met all the requirements for zoning purposes especially in regard to setbacks and the number of parking spaces. He noted that he has not received the landscape or water management plans for local approval.
City coordinator Joe Harris said the company is planning to have a retention pond on the west side of the property to handle stormwater flow. The stormwater plan will be reviewed by the Department of Natural Resources before being submitted to the city. Christensen explained there are multiple steps for approvals for a project like this. He recommended commission members approve the plans to move the project along.
In other action, commission members voted to declare the city-owned vacant lot on the corner of Wisconsin Ave. and State St., that used to be the location of the Riverhouse Inn, to be surplus property clearing the way for it to be sold to Medford Motors for the development of an electric vehicle charging station.
