News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Mayor Steve Wilson believes Sisters City Councilor Gordon Petrie is biased against the developers of several controversial projects in Sisters.
Petrie vigorously denied that charge and said "all this is doing is making a fight, and I think The Nugget is a party to it."
Wilson told The Nugget that he believes Petrie has shown bias against developers that has inappropriately shaped his decisions regarding a zone change on Barclay Ranch and colored his judgment toward a proposed Les Schwab tire store on the McKenzie Highway.
"He has shown blatant bias against PMR, Ted Eady, and now Jerry Taylor (of Les Schwab) and it would appear that any presentation of fact is immaterial to the decision process," Wilson said in an interview.
"I defy Mr. Wilson to come up with a quote of mine that would say that," Petrie responded. "I have not made biased statements about PMR or Ted Eady. I don't think anybody can catch me on that.
"I do not think I'm biased and I do not make pre-judgments," he continued. "By the same token, any politician promotes his point of view off the job."
Petrie told The Nugget that he favors "managed, controlled growth" and cited the Rolling Horse Meadows and Buck Run developments as examples.
"I'm in favor of that type of growth, one that the city can readily absorb," Petrie said.
Tensions on the council came to a head after Petrie's dissenting vote at the September 11 city council meeting delayed changing a portion of Barclay Ranch from urban area reserve to light industrial zoning.
The council voted 4-1 in favor of an ordinance making the change. Petrie objected because the ordinance included an emergency clause, making the ordinance effective immediately.
Because the vote wasn't unanimous, the ordinance must have another reading at the next city council meeting.
Wilson believes Petrie objected to the emergency clause simply because he opposes Eady's project.
"I would like somebody to show me a case where we didn't invoke the emergency clause," Wilson said. "For him to throw that issue out because Ted Eady is involved is way outside the box of fair play."
Petrie says he has consistently opposed using the emergency clause just to put ordinances into effect immediately instead of waiting 30 days.
"How anybody can construe that there was an emergency last night is beyond me," he said.
Petrie has recently voted in favor of other ordinances including that clause without raising objections. On August 14, the council passed an ordinance increasing the fees developers must pay into the city's park fund from 5 to 8 percent. That ordinance declared an emergency, and Petrie made no comment about it.
Petrie and Councilor Tim Clasen also voted against a separate ordinance changing part of the Barclay Ranch zone to general commercial zoning.
Petrie again cited his objections to the emergency clause, and he and Clasen both said they believed the zone change to be "spot zoning," which they consider inappropriate.
According to Wilson, the latest wrangling over the Barclay Ranch is part of a pattern of councilors stepping outside the bounds of what he considers proper behavior.
Wilson told The Nugget he called a workshop prior to the September 11 meeting so that city attorney Bryant could remind councilors of their duty and proper behavior.
Wilson expressed concerns that councilor Tim Clasen had prejudiced his decision on an appeal of a planning commission recommendation that the city change the zones on Eady's property.
Clasen surveyed some residents about their opinion of the project while the appeal was before the council and brought those opinions up when the council discussed the appeal.
In the September 11 workshop, city attorney Bryant told the councilors that kind of outside contact in a quasi-judicial process is inappropriate.
Clasen told The Nugget he believed at the time that he was just doing his job by seeking public input.
"I guess I was enlightened about that in that workshop," Clasen said. "I wasn't aware that wasn't an appropriate thing to do."
But Clasen noted that his survey did not alter his vote, especially on the commercial zone.
"I still feel it's spot zoning," he said.
Clasen said he was absolutely certain he can give anyone who comes before the council a fair hearing.
"I'm not necessarily a non-development guy," Clasen said. "I just want to be sure we're following the rules."
Clasen believes the council will move beyond the recent fracas.
"We have things on our agenda and our goal setting that we're just going to work toward," he said. "My big thing this winter is working on a parks plan."
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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