News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
According to city planner Neil Thompson, RV park owner Wayne Scott took out a permit to build an open-sided picnic shelter on the site, but did not have a permit to build the kind of structure that he eventually put up. Such a structure is not permitted in the landscape management zone where the building is located.
The city wants at least the sides of the "temporary structure" taken down, but Scott, according to city planners, won't do it.
"He (Scott) refuses to take it down or even consider taking it down," said planning commissioner Dave Elliott at the commission's January 15 meeting. "It has to be a legal fight and I think we need to take a stand."
Thompson said the city's building inspector informed Scott and the property's management in November that the building is not to be occupied due to lack of fire egress and other public safety features. Elliott urged that the city enforce that ruling even if it means removing people using the structure in the middle of an event.
Scott, however, says that the city's position is news to him.
"They have had zero communication with me," he told The Nugget. "I don't know what you're talking about. And it's exactly what was permitted, with the exception of the roll-up metal doors."
Scott said the building inspector told him after the building hosted a High Mountains Dixieland Jazz Festival venue in September that the building needed personnel doors and that he would send Scott information on exactly what was required. According to Scott, he has not received that information.
But according to Thompson, the city planner talked to Scott three times about the city's position that the building was not permitted -- once in Thompson's office and twice on the telephone.
"For him to say that there was zero communication is not true," Thompson said.
Thompson told The Nugget that he is looking into the city's recourse in this case; he said he believes Scott can be cited into municipal court and fined for each day the structure remains up.
This is not the first time the owner of the RV park has run afoul of city planners. The planning commission disapproved of the white vinyl fence surrounding the property after it was installed in 1994, saying it was not approved in the park's site plan and that the fence material was not acceptable according to the city's 1880s Western theme requirements.
The city council allowed Scott to plant trees and other greenery on a berm in front of the fence to screen it.
At the January 15 meeting, the planning commision noted that many of the screening trees and bushes have died, which Elliott views as a violation of Scott's agreement with the city.
"As far as the fence goes, he's playing small town local yokels her," Elliott said. "He's stepping on us and we've got to stand up to it."
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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