News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Developer Ted Eady plans to build a 25-room inn on 6.24 acres of the site. He has said he will seek light industrial zoning on another 7.36 acres next to the Sisters Industrial Park. Eady has offered an additional 6.77 acres (not part of the proposed annexation) to the city for a park.
Eady made his case for annexation before the Sisters City Council Thursday, February 27. He said that, when his planned inn is completed, the annexed property will bring in at least $23,000 to the city in property and room taxes.
He also argued that the city needs more light industrial land to offer to large companies such as Weitech and Metabolic Maintenance, which require more than an acre.
If the residents vote "no" on the annexation proposal, Eady may be able to go forward with the project under county jurisdiction, though it is not clear whether he can obtain the zoning he wants from the county.
The city's management agreement with Deschutes County requires a demonstration that a property can be annexed in order to allow a change in county zoning.
According to city planner Neil Thompson, that used to mean that a developer consented to be annexed and the city determined if services could be provided without negative impact on services to the rest of the community.
With the new requirement for voter approval, planners are no longer certain what it takes to demonstrate the ability to be annexed.
According to Deschutes County Director of Community Development George Read, the city/county management agreement is "internally inconsistent" and due for review. He also indicated that the county has not had to deal with a situation like this and consequently has not developed guidelines.
Thompson told The Nugget that Eady might be able to make a case for a zone change before the county, but, in any case, the existing zoning allows for a "dude ranch" on the site, which, Thompson noted, would allow for some guest rooms.
"When is an inn an inn?" Thompson queried.
Eady asked the council for an endorsement of the annexation bid, but the council, in a 3-2 vote, declined to comment because the mail-in election was already underway.
"I don't think we should be in the position of influencing some of the voters and not others," said Councilor Gordon Petrie.
Councilors Sheryl Whent and Kathy Pittman urged that the council take a position.
"If we just sit here and shrug our shoulders, that's not leadership in my opinion," Whent said.
Councilor Tim Clasen, while he indicated that he viewed the annexation favorably, agreed with Petrie, and Mayor Steve Wilson broke the tie in favor of remaining silent on the issue.
The council did decide to craft annexation procedures for future annexation proposals. The city will draw up an ordinance based on procedures used in Corvallis. The Sisters measure requiring a vote to annex land was based on a similar move made by Corvallis about 20 years ago.
Corvallis' procedures require that an annexation proposal go before the planning commission and the city council with a full complement of public hearings.
Eady told The Nugget he asked the city council for a hearing in an attempt to utilize those procedures.
No one spoke in opposition to the project, though Virginia Groom of the Committee to Save Sisters has urged a no vote, raising questions about the impact of Eady's proposed project on the city. She has also argued that the proposal is not in line with the city's policy of annexing only developed land.
Eady has argued that new Measure 47 provisions remove the incentive to wait until land is developed before annexation. Now, bare land can be annexed and taxed, and once improvements are in place, the land can be taxed including the value of the improvements.
As to his project's impacts, Eady said, "Whatever is going to happen out there on the Barclay Ranch is going to have an impact on the city whether it's inside the city or not.
"If the city doesn't want me to pay my fair share," he said, "I'll stay with the county."
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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