MEDFORD, Ore. – A new study, done by ECONorthwest, revealed the city of Medford needs 13,000 new homes by 2042.
“It looks at our population, how our community is growing overtime, and how it’s going to grow in the future over the next 20 years,” Medford planning director Matt Brinkley said.
The study was presented to city council this month, showing a projected 35% to increase in Medford’s population by 2042.
That’s equivalent to 31,000 new residents.
Brinkley said around a thousand acres of land through the 2018 urban growth boundary amendment will be used to build housing over the next two decades.
Much of the expansion will likely come in one area.
“On the east side of Medford, which isn’t as high value of farm land, the choice was made to expand more on the east than the west, that said, we do have expansion areas on the west side too,” Brinkley said.
In total, 3,200 acres of land are available to be developed.
The study went so far as to break down exactly what type of residential units are needed.
That includes 7,200 single-family homes, 3,200 apartments and 2,600 combined town homes, duplexes and triplexes.
In order to meet that goal, the study said around 650 units a year need to be built, which is much higher than the current pace.
“Historically, as we have rebounded from the recession we’ve been doing about 400-500 units a year,” Brinley said. “You can see, it is going to be challenging and we really rely on private sector developers to do that.”
The city council unanimously approved setting various planning goals based on the study.
Which means, the city will implement new strategies over the next several years to bring new housing developments to the area.
© 2024 KOBI-TV NBC5. All rights reserved unless otherwise stated.