Imported Lagers

Ashland’s Standing Stone Brewing Co. hatches plan to bring animals, eggs from city-owned land to table

Standing Stone Brewing Co. wants to use city-owned land to raise chickens for meat and eggs to be used in dishes at its brew pub, with the eventual addition of cows, lambs and turkeys on the property.

The Ashland City Council will consider the company’s proposal during a meeting that starts at 7 tonight in the council chambers at the Ashland Civic Center, 1175 E. Main St.

In May, the city requested proposals for using 265 acres of its 829-acre Imperatrice Ranch land across Interstate 5 from town. The property currently is leased to a cattleman.

The grazing lease brings in about $11,000 a year — enough to cover Jackson County property taxes and irrigation fees.

Standing Stone is proposing to start out using part of the land for mobile trailers that would hold chickens.

Raising livestock on the land would provide the business with a local supply of eggs and meat. The land is only a mile from the restaurant, so pollution from transporting food would be reduced, according to Standing Stone’s proposal.

It has offered to pay rent of $1 per year, but also to cover $10,917 in annual Talent Irrigation District fees, Oregon Department of Forestry fire protection fees and property taxes.

Raising livestock on the land would cut into Standing Stone’s profits and would “require the substantial raising of meal prices at the restaurant to fund the development of the project,” wrote Ashland Public Works Engineering Technician Morgan Wayman, who was on the city government-assembled team that gave written evaluations of the proposal.

As part of the team, he reviewed Standing Stone’s business plan, which is not available to the public.

The city’s request for plans for use of the land also generated a proposal from a group of professionals. The group’s proposal scored slightly lower than Standing Stone’s proposal.

Public Environmental Education Project planner Caia Cupito, landscape architect Kerry KenCairn, architect Carlos Delgado and solar-energy consultant Geoff Dawson proposed farm, orchard, solar- and wind-energy projects, a farmhouse and education center with a restaurant and gift shop inside, an outdoor amphitheater, trails, picnic areas and water storage ponds.

The group did not want to carry out its vision alone but rather to work with whichever entity is awarded a lease to use the land. The group would need to win grants to fund work.

While the city’s request for proposals offered use of the land for two years, the group said it would need at least 10 years of use. Members said they would need two or three years just for planning, designing and applying for grants.

The city bought the Imperatrice Ranch property in 1996 for $950,287 and planned to spray treated sewage effluent on its hillsides. That use remains an option. A consultant is evaluating methods for dealing with the city’s sewage effluent.

The county assessor’s office has put the market value of the land at $7.6 million. Some city officials doubt it could sell for that amount because it is zoned for farm use.