Property owned by Allen and Daralene Hansen overlooks Cherry Lane, above east Medford, on the original area that made up Whittle ranch.

A former ranch that was once in the boondocks of east Medford is poised to be annexed into the city for a subdivision of at least 244 residences.

For the past 25 years, the main property owners, Allen and Daralene Hansen, have strived to annex their property into the city.

“It’s inevitable that somebody would want to develop it,” Allen Hansen said.

Medford City Council Nov. 14 approved the urbanization plan for the proposed subdivision.

In 2016, the council included the property in its proposed urban growth boundary expansion, a preliminary step toward annexation.

This was just one of many properties that the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development signed off on for the city’s Urban Growth Boundary amendment to pave the way to bring in 1,658 acres of buildable land.

A public hearing on the proposed Hansen property annexation, which also includes two other smaller properties, is scheduled for sometime in February, and, in the meantime, Jackson County will consider a request for a partition that would subdivide the property.

Hansen said he was hoping to get everything done by the end of 2024, but he thinks it will likely take some additional time to complete the annexation.

“We’re trying to get it done through the city, and then put it up for sale,” Hansen said.

Located east of Cherry Lane and south of Hillcrest Road, the land was part of the late Dorothy Whittle’s ranch. She donated a 165-acre portion of her property in 1998 to the city of Medford to create Chrissy Park, named after Whittle’s dog.

Chrissy Park, which is undeveloped, is the second biggest park in Medford after nearby 1,740-acre Prescott Park.

CSA Planning is helping guide the Hansens through the annexation process.

The Chrissy Crest Neighborhood Plan is actually a collaboration of three different property owners, though the Hansen property is the largest at 97.08 acres.

Of the 107 acres in the planning area, 35.76 of those acres located to the south are not within the City’s Urban Growth Boundary, though they could be included in a future growth boundary expansion.

The proposed Chrissy Crest Neighborhood Plan would included both high-density and single-family residences and would require extending Aerial Heights Drive from the west.

About 8 acres is proposed for high-density development.

The rest of the buildable land would be zoned to allow anywhere from two to five residences per acre.

The property is located just south of an area of Medford that has been previously developed around the intersection of Hillcrest Road and Cherry Lane.

Hansen said the property has a long history and was once owned by Dorothy Whittle’s husband, Tom Whittle. “He was an old-time developer back in the day,” Hansen said.

Only about 60 acres of the property is suitable for development, Hansen said. Much of the property has steep hillsides. “It’s unbuildable at this point,” Hansen said.

He said the undeveloped land will remain open space.

A former builder, Hansen said he has no interest in developing the property himself.

“It’s going to take somebody with big horsepower to make it work,” he said.

The city has long-range plans to connect urban trail systems to Chrissy Park through the new Chrissy Crest subdivision. A shared use path along the east side of Cherry Lane and along the south side of Hillcrest would be built, eventually extended to the north to connect to Prescott Park along Roxy Ann Road.

Long-range plans also call for a neighborhood park.

Hansen said his family was close to Dorothy Whittle, and he said the house she lived in is still located on the property.

“We took care of Dorothy,” he said. “Dorothy kind of adopted me.”