Black Butte Ranch adds 80 acres

Black Butte Ranch will add 80 acres to its boundaries.

The Deschutes County Planning Commission, on Thursday, November l2, approved the inclusion the land owned by Black Butte Ranch into the resort boundaries.

Although the ranch owns the property, it lies outside resort boundaries at its northwest corner. The land was historically part of Black Butte Ranch since Brooks-Scanlon developed the property in the 1970s, according to BBR General Manager Loy Helmly.

"This is not an expansion of the ranch," explained Helmly. "All we are doing is complying with a Deschutes County mandate from the state to decide what kind of community we should be."

According to Helmly, the State of Oregon requires urban unincorporated areas, like Black Butte Ranch, to establish specific designations for the governance of appropriate uses. Helmly says the ranch is pursuing "resort community designation."

"For legal reasons we are crossing our T's and dotting our I's," Helmly said. "We are including (in the ranch) this property, which we have owned for a number of years."

Black Butte Ranch currently uses approximately half of the 80-acre parcel as a surface mine, for which the property is zoned and permitted, Helmly said. BBR extracts gravel from the mine for roads and construction.

The land is also used for "effluent and sludge disposal for our sewer plant, maintenance vehicle storage, and possibly, in the future, employee housing," explained Helmly.

If the land is included in the ranch boundary, he says they will be required to "create a surface mining district within our resort community designation (similar to) a residential or a recreation district."

According to Helmly, the planning commission acted on the proposal despite requests from county staff to view additional information. He said BBR presented most of their information in writing at the hearing, but "not all of it."

"The commission reserved the right to review any (future) material changes," said Helmly.

County planning staff was unavailable for comment.

"The county planning commission voted to send our packet along with Widgi Creek and Inn of the Seventh Mountain, since they are pursuing the same designation, to the Board of County Commissioners for review," Helmly said.

A final decision on the Black Butte Ranch resort community designation rests with the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners. A public hearing will be held at 11 a.m., Wednesday, December 16, in the County Commissioners Hearing Room, 1130 NW Harriman in Bend.