City back to drawing board on Creekside Park

Last updated 4/18/2014 at Noon

The City of Sisters will go back to the drawing board with its plans to renovate the overnight campground at Creekside Park. The City pulled its application to renovate the campground, a proposal, which had been slated to go back to the Sisters Planning Commission for more review.

Last week, the Oregon Parks and Recreation District, which is responsible for enforcing deed restrictions on the park, gave the City written authorization to continue to operate the park as-is, but requiring a master plan for any further development. OPRD asked the City to "refrain from further development or addition of structures until we've approved a master plan and can compare any possible proposals with a master plan."

Due to that requirement, City Manager Gorayeb told The Nugget, "We are withdrawing the application to rehab the campground. Moving forward, we need to develop a comprehensive master plan for the campground and submit it to OPRD for review and approval."

The city will essentially start from scratch.

According to Gorayeb, the plan will likely include but not be limited to:

* Tree management plan;

* Improvement plan (short and long term);

* Other public amenities plan;

* Landscape plan.

"We will develop the plan through a process of public outreach and engagement starting with the parks board then the planning commission and then city council. Once we get buy-in and finalization, we can go to OPRD for review and approval."

A two-phase plan to renovate the campground was to have been implemented this spring. Plans called for more full-hook-up sites for RVs and paving and planting grass. The proposal was controversial. Plans to remove a significant number of trees - mostly in the second phase - drew considerable fire from some citizens. Citizens also expressed concern over the lack of opportunities for public input on the plan.

With the City required to go back to the drawing board, there will now be multiple opportunities for public input on any new master plan.

In the meantime, the park can stay open and continue to operate as it has been.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.