Incorporating information published by the City of Medford and information provided by Carla Angeli Paladino, Principal Planner City of Medford
The Medford City Council unanimously approved an ordinance on October 15, 2025, to amend the City’s Comprehensive Plan, officially adopting the Downtown Plan into its Neighborhood Element. This marks the first comprehensive planning effort focused on Downtown Medford in more than 20 years.
The Downtown Plan outlines a strategic vision to increase housing options for all, support existing businesses and attract new ones, expand multimodal transportation choices, and foster a vibrant and inclusive downtown that reflects Medford’s unique character.
The plan represents a collective vision shaped through extensive collaboration among the City Council, Public Advisory Committee, City staff, and a broad spectrum of community members whose insights and dedication have been invaluable throughout the planning process.
The plan was funded primarily through a grant from the Transportation and Growth Management program, which is a joint initiative of the Oregon Department of Transportation and Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development.
Community Engagement and Planning Process
Development of the plan began in spring 2024 and concluded in summer 2025. The process included seven key phases focused on topics such as visioning, land use, parking, and transportation. Each phase was shaped by public input through community events, survey responses, interviews with community partners, and Public Advisory Committee meetings.
“Big Moves” and Implementation Timing
The plan identifies six “Big Moves” – transformational actions and strategies to guide downtown revitalization:
- Integrate Bear Creek into Downtown
- Activate the Evergreen Corridor
- Improve Downtown Gateways
- Create Energy Around the Holly Theatre
- Create a Community Food Hub
- Activate the Alley Network
Implementation timing ranges from short-term “quick wins” to long-term strategies that will require significant planning, investment, or dependencies on prior actions.
View the full Downtown Plan here. (PDF, 54MB)
Below are the initial projects to get the Downtown Plan kicked off. The items are taken from the implementation section of the plan and then more details are described underneath each.
ESTABLISH URBAN DESIGN CORRIDORS AND UPDATED DESIGN GUIDELINES FOR DOWNTOWN
Measures of Success
- New Downtown Zone Chapter adopted into the Medford Municipal Code
- Comprehensive Plan Land Use Map amended to reflect new zone and Climate Friendly area (CFA) alignment
- Urban Design Corridor framework mapped and published
- Compliance with Department of Land Conservation and Development DFA regulations
Page number in Plan – 114
The items above will be developed in earnest to help update the regulatory framework in Downtown. Staff will be working to prepare updates to both the General Land Use Plan (GLUP) map and Zoning map to adjust the underlying land use designations. For the GLUP map, the result is to apply the City Center designation within the established Downtown Boundary. For the Zoning map, the different commercial zones and few multi-family zones will be revised into a new Downtown Commercial zone. City owned land zoned Public Parks will be evaluated for changes to the City Center GLUP and Downtown Commercial zone but may remain as they are.
In addition, staff will be reviewing the permitted use table and identifying desired compatible land uses in the Downtown and recommending others to be prohibited (mostly car centric type uses). Staff will also be incorporating and modifying draft site plan and architectural guidelines into the code that will be applicable to new buildings or major expansions of existing buildings. These standards seek to reinforce constructing buildings up to the street, adjacent to streetscapes that are inviting, walkable, and active, and seeking to locate any new parking to the side or rear of the buildings.
Staff will also be working on designating Downtown as the City’s Climate Friendly Area as required by administrative rules (OAR 660-012-0310 through 660-012-0330.) The goal of CFAs is to identify areas of a city where up to 30% of the City’s housing needs can be accommodated. CFAs are intended to be mixed use, walkable neighborhoods, that provide employment, housing, and open space. They are described as existing downtown areas. The regulations will be updated to meet the state requirements.
These stops will entail drafting code and proposing map changes. Staff will be preparing to discuss the initial proposals with City Council and the Planning Commission at a joint study session in March 2026.
FOSTER PLACEMAKING AND PUBLIC ART INTEGRATION
Measures of Success
- Number and geographic spread of new public art installations
Page number in Plan – 124
The Planning Department has $25,000 budgeted to add artwork to City owned traffic signal boxes within downtown. Staff are coordinating with DMA on this project. There are 29 boxes identified to be vinyl wrapped in artist selected artwork or other graphics. Staff are working on obtaining quotes from sign companies. The goal is to have as many boxes wrapped in artwork by June/July 2026 based on the cost per box.
ACTIVATE THE ALLEY NETWORK
Measure of Success
- Number of alleys upgraded and activated
Page number in Plan – 135
One of the Big Moves identified in the Downtown Plan is to increase activation and use of our alley network. The Planning Department has budgeted $75,000 to conduct a study to identify alleys and proposed improvements within those alleys to add art, lighting, seating and other amenities. Details on the scope of work need to be developed that will lead to the release of a request for proposal in the first or second quarter of the new year.