Pine Meadow zoning hearing continued

A request to take about 80 acres of Pine Meadow Ranch just west of Sisters out of an urban area reserve zone and rezone it for residential development was continued during a public hearing before a Deschutes County hearings officer in Bend March 5.

Hearings Officer Karen Green continued the hearing until April 2 after hearing arguments for and against the zone change. The continuance came at the request of opponent Howard Paine of Sisters.

Paine said the opponents to the zone change (and comprehensive plan amendment) had not had adequate time to prepare their case because the county planning staff had not met the requirements of the hearings law. He said staff reports must be made available to the public more than seven days prior to the hearing.

Green agreed with the claim and granted the continuance.

The developments proposed for the land include both single family (RS--Urban Standard Residential) and multi-family (RH--Urban High Density) homes. Traffic in and out of the development would be over Pine Street and an extension of Hood Street, according to Steve McGhehey, managing partner of PMR Development Co.

He said much of the open space on the ranch property will remain open.

Hearings officer Green asked what the developer's plans are for sewage.

McGhehey said the company has worked with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and has done extensive testing on the site. He said the development has a "large acreage adjacent" to home sites which can be used for an additional drain field. He said the DEQ has "indicated our plan is possible."

The case for approval of the zone change and comprehensive plan amendment was presented by Sisters attorney Liz Fancher. She said the current Sisters Comprehensive Plan, which includes the ranch property within its present urban growth boundary, calls for changing the Urban Area Reserve zone when development within the city reaches 75 percent of capacity.

Fancher said, "That has occurred."

Fancher said the development would not impact city traffic any more than some uses permitted under the present UAR-10 zone classification, uses such as schools and resorts.

Fancher said the project's largest impact on traffic would come from a multi-family development which could have as many as 144 units.

She said the Institute of Transportation Engineers Trip Generation Manual indicated that should the RH parcel be developed to maximum density it would generate 931.68 vehicle trips per day. She said a small, 600-student college, permitted under the reserve zone, would generate 1,442 trips per day. A grade school, high school complex would generate even more, she said.

Proponents of the zone change testified that there is a need for additional housing in Sisters. Robert Shaw, for example, said he moved his business to Sisters a short time ago and that he was unable to find housing inside the city.

Shaw said he has employees in Portland that he would like to move to Sisters, "but there are no homes." He said he favored the proposed development because it offers a broad range of residential options.

Howard Payne, in addition to proposing a continuance, said there is no "public need" demonstrated to justify taking the property out of its reserve classification. He said there has been a reduction in population in Sisters over the past 17 years and that he believes Sisters should have 110 vacant housing units.

Gordon Petrie, also of Sisters, echoed Payne's position saying population growth projection for Sisters have not occurred. He also said that the 75 percent development criterion for taking land out of reserve is not a mandate to change and that the "need (for a zone change) has not been proven."