City may benefit from local land exchange

According to Best Western motel owner Bill Reed, the City of Sisters could generate up to $30,000 per year in additional room tax revenues as a result of the pending land swap between Crown Pacific and the U.S. Forest Service.

In a proposed land exchange between Crown Pacific and the Forest Service, the Sisters Ranger District could gain 9,000 acres of property, while giving up 72 acres to Crown Pacific.

But these parcels comprise only part of a massive land swap where the Forest Service would trade nearly 33,000 acres in the Deschutes, Fremont, and Winema National Forests for almost 39,000 acres of Crown Pacific lands.

Should the exchange proceed as outlined, Crown Pacific would ultimately sell a 16.2-acre parcel in the Sisters City limits to Jan and Bill Reed, owners of Sisters' Best Western Ponderosa Lodge.

The Reeds plan to develop this property into additional lodging facilities and a conference center, creating 30 additional units for the motel.

With 48 current rooms, Bill Reed estimates that their motel generates approximately $1,000 per room per year for city coffers, after contributing almost $48,000 in 1997 in transient room tax.

Reed estimates the additional accommodations and adjoining facilities could increase that total by up to $30,000 per year while providing year-round conference and meeting rooms for a wide range of visiting and local organizations.

While the estimated impact on tax revenues may be predictable, the actual value of the land is obscure.

The 16.2-acre parcel in the Sisters City limits is zoned Urban Area Reserve, giving it a much higher value per acre than the majority of the parcels in the swap.

According to Corporate Administrative Forester Ted Young of Crown Pacific, "Real estate appraisal is difficult in this transaction in that it is (a) big (exchange). With around 180 parcels, each individual parcel was not appraised individually," he said.

A timber appraiser "cruised," or determined the market value, of the timber on these properties, then, as Young explained, "the (real estate) appraiser focused on the land (values)."

Land values take into consideration the uniqueness of individual properties - that is whether they have rivers running through them, whether they contain rocky soils and outcrops, or in the case of the Sisters property, whether they are within an urban growth boundary.

According to the appraisal, Young commented that the Forest Service would give up approximately 124 million board feet of timber to Crown Pacific, receiving 118 million board feet in exchange, with +/-5 percent accuracy.

He estimates there are approximately 12 truckloads of trees on the property inside the City of Sisters, but feels Reed "will want to maintain the aesthetic value of the property," and that as few as two truckloads may allow him the room necessary for his development.

"The resort-style atmosphere is what attracts people to the motel," Reed said, "and our plans are to keep as many of the healthy, mature ponderosa pines as possible."

The total values of the exchange lands were determined to be approximately equal.

But, according to Young, the actual cash values of the properties remain "proprietary" until the transaction is complete. Reed and Sisters Ranger District Lands Forester Jeff Sims concurred with Young.

"The appraisal is good for one year," Sims said. "Then if both parties agree on the exchange and the values, the agreement is signed and the values become public."

The Forest Service is requesting public review of the proposed land exchange. Copies of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement may be obtained by calling Kathy Farrell of the Deschutes National Forest at 383-5571.

Written comments addressing the statement should be sent by January 9, 1998 to the Deschutes National Forest, attention: Kathy Farrell, 1645 Highway 20 East, Bend, OR 97701.

Anyone with additional questions or those wishing to view the Sisters parcel may contact Jeff Sims at 549-7706.