City plan hits legal pinch

Just when everyone believed they had heard the last of the Sisters Comprehensive Plan for awhile, it's back in the news because of a procedural error.

It was former Sisters planning director Leslie Bangs who called the city's attention to the fact that Deschutes County representatives had not been formally invited to review certain aspects of the Sisters Comprehensive Plan as required in a joint management agreement between Sisters and the county.

The county must concur on land use issues concerning those lands in the city's urban growth boundary that are presently in the county.

The city council sent the comprehensive plan to the State Land Conservation and Development Commission (LCDC) last month for review. Bangs said the county must approve the plan before it goes to the state.

Neil Thompson, present city planning director, said he had been following the lead of Deschutes County planner Brian Harrison and Brent Lake, local representative of LCDC. Thompson said he was not that familiar with the procedures for submitting plans to the county and the state. He said he has furnished the county with copies of the plan throughout the development process and assumed all requirements were met.

"I guess they have to be formally invited by the city council to review the plan," Thompson said.

Kevin Harrison, Deschutes County senior planner, said that under the joint management agreement, the plan must go to the county planning commission for review. The commission then forwards it to the board of county commissioners for approval.

After that the county and the city must agree on the plan before it is forwarded to LCDC.

No one seems to be quite certain about what happens next. Harrison guesses the state will review the plan for compliance to laws and send it back, after which the city and county okay it before it is finally adopted.