By Maggie McGehee - Ashland Daily Tidings

TALENT - Four short chimes pealed from the bell tower atop the Talent Community Hall shortly before 9 p.m. Wednesday, signifying the end of an era and a new beginning for this small hamlet north of Ashland.
    Mayor Marian Telerski had to climb on top of a chair to reach the bell's ropes, but she was determined to let the town of 5,000 residents know their lives were about to change.
    Earlier that night, Telerski, flanked by the City Council and other city staff, signed into law an ordinance repealing the public facilities strategy - commonly referred to as the building moratorium - which has kept the city at a virtual standstill since the New Year's Day flood of 1997.

    "It's been years since we've seen truckloads of trusses go through the city,"
Telerski said. "Bring on the trucks."
    The public facilities strategy was adopted after the devastating effects of the 1997 flood left the city without drinkable water or a stable water supply.
    It took until early last year, when the city joined with the cities of Phoenix and Ashland, to bring a two-foot-wide waterline down Highway 99 from
Medford, before city officials could once again set their sights on growth.
    The $8.9 million Talent-Ashland-Phoenix water intertie project is now completed, and Talent stands poised on the brink of a building explosion as developers from across the Rogue Valley descend on this sleepy community to scout out new subdivisions and buildable lands. (Photo - Talent Library)

    Among them is Charlie Hamilton of Suncrest Homes in Talent. In 1996,
Hamilton put the wheels in motion on a new subdivision off Second Street in
Talent, but the New Year's Day flood thwarted his plans.
    Five years later, construction crews are busy at work, preparing the ground for the nine single-family dwellings that will be built on the site.
    "This is no surprise," Hamilton said. "It's nice to be building. Technically, I can start submitting plans next week, so we can start building in another four to six weeks. That's why I am not too anxious about tonight's decision, because the work is still a month out."

    Hamilton's Willow Station subdivision is one example of the challenges the
city has had to overcome in the face of the building moratorium. However,
city officials are also thankful for the moratorium, saying it also gave them time to decide how and where the city should grow, how to preserve historic
buildings and districts, and how the city can maintain the small-town
atmosphere that has kept Talent alive through the moratorium.

    Effective Jan. 22, residents, property owners and developers can once again submit land use applications for new development to the city's planning
department

Talent, Oregon Home Page

(C) 2002 Ashland Daily Tidings    Reprinted by permission.