News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Truck traffic past Sisters Middle/High School and through Sisters had been a key concern of mine opponents. The mediating committee said that numerous alternative truck routes were examined and none of them were remotely feasible.
The extraction and traffic limits could be exceeded if additional material is needed locally for specific projects. Under those circumstances, Hap Taylor & Sons would be required to notify an advisory committee which is to include a representative from either the Sisters School District or the City of Sisters and one from the Crossroads Homeowners Association.
The advisory committee, which includes the mine operator, is to meet quarterly or as needed to review the mine operation.
John Hornbeck, Gene Todd and Jan van den Berg represented the mine opponents in the mediation. They told a gathering of concerned citizens held February 1 they were satisfied with the outcome of the mediation and hopeful the impacts of the mine operation would be less than they had feared.
"We did get some concessions that, in our view, were the best that we could get given that (the applicants) are within their legal rights," van den Berg said.
The Deschutes County hearings officer and the county board of commissioners had approved the mine application; opponents had appealed that decision to the state Land Use Board of Appeals.
According to Hornbeck, once the agreement is finalized as part of the permit to operate the mine, the appeal will be dropped.
Hornbeck reflected that, faced with an expensive appeals process and dimming hopes that the mine could be stopped completely, opponents had to find an effective way to resolve the dispute.
"What do we gain as a community by spending more money for a year or two down the road?" he queried.
The mediators believe that Hap Taylor & Sons, Inc. will make a good-faith effort to run the mine operation safely and keep the community's concerns in mind.
"Our sense was that Hap and his sons are committed to doing a responsible job," Hornbeck said. "Their word is good."
Todd, president of the Crossroads Property Owners Association, agreed.
"We were emotional about it; we were upset; we thought it was going to destroy us," he told The Nugget. "We found them to be more credible and perhaps not the bad people we thought they were when we started this."
One of Crossroads' greatest worries was dust and noise from the site. Todd said that he was reassured by the requirements placed on the mine operator to meet noise and air quality standards and he believes the impacts on Crossroads will be minimal.
The mine operator also agreed in the mediation to restrict crushing on the site to a period between September through May, which opponents believe will reduce both noise and dust during the summer months.
The operator agreed to work with the City of Sisters, the Sisters School District and the Oregon Department of Transportation to set a 25 mile-per-hour speed limit on Highway 242 from the intersection of Highway 20 west past the middle/high school.
They also agreed to work with the school district to develop a detached pedestrian/bicycle path along Highway 242 from Highway 20 to the school. According to the agreed upon conditions, no trucks will run past the high school for 30 minutes before and after school until the path is constructed.
A copy of the proposed new conditions was available for review and comment at the chamber of commerce in Sisters. No comments had been received at press time.
According to Hornbeck and Todd, unless some significant issue is raised by the community this week, the new conditions will be presented to the county for inclusion in the conditions of approval for the applicant's site plan and conditional use permit for the mine and crushing operation.
Hornbeck said he believes the Sisters community should now turn the energy and attention brought to the mine fight to resolving what he fears is a looming traffic crisis in town -- with or without gravel trucks.
"It's absolutely clear to me that Sisters is going to strangle itself with traffic by the year 2000-2001," Hornbeck said.
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.
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