Plans for The Pines development go to city

Developer Eldon Howard filed plans for his "planned unit development" with the City of Sisters on Tuesday, November 17. The property lies outside the city limits, but a new city/county agreement gives the city jurisdiction over the area where the property lies, inside the city's Urban Growth Boundary.

"It's going to be a very nice manufactured home park where the owner - us (The Pines of Sisters L.L.C.) - will do all the maintainance and upkeep," Howard said. "The lots will be leased. The homes will be purchased (by the individual)."

Plans call for 79 houses and extensive open space.

Howard said he is currently working with Arnie Swarens of Town and Country Realty who will sell the homes.

The homes will be 1,200 to 1,400 square feet, each with a two-car garage or carport, according to Howard.

Howard said there will be "very tight CC&Rs (covenants, codes and restrictions)," designed to maintain the quality of the development.

The development is on 15 acres of a 60.5 acre area. Howard indicated that this development could be the first of several, depending on its success.

"I can speculate that; I don't know," Howard said. "It depends on how this goes."

The property is zoned high density residential and the county granted a conditional use permit to allow

single-family dwellings in

that zone.

"We're doing as much as we can do without the sewer right now," Howard said.

The developer said that the area's septic system design has not been finalized, but it will be able to connect to the city sewer when the service becomes available.

Howard noted that the site has some local historical significance.

"This was Brooks-Scanlon's last logging camp," he said.

Crews from Barclay Contractors will remove the

existing houses at The Pines as soon as the last tenants move out at the end of November.

The homes date back to those logging camp days in the 1930s, when they were brought in by railroad as housing for logging crews and their

families.

Construction could begin in about four months, if the

application process goes smoothly and quickly,

Howard said.

Once construction begins, Howard expects the project to be completed within six to eight months.