News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Congress has put the brakes on Sisters' effort to acquire 160 acres of land at no cost for the city's sewer treatment facility.
Legislation that would have turned over the National Forest land to the City of Sisters stalled in a congressional subcommittee on Tuesday, August 3. Forest Service officials and some committee members opposed the bill because it would not provide compensation to the Forest Service for the land.
"The administration is opposed to it because there is existing authority that allows for the public purchase of public lands," said Forest Service legislative affairs specialist Tom Tidwell.
That authority is the Townsite Act, which allows the purchase of public lands for uses such as a sewer treatment facility at "fair market value."
The Forest Service has approved a Townsite Act purchase of the land in Sisters, known as Section 9. The 160 acres is roughly estimated to be worth $440,000, according to Sisters Mayor Steve Wilson.
The legislation, Senate Bill 416, was originally proposed by Oregon Senators Ron Wyden and Gordon Smith.
The bill sailed through the Senate before running into opposition in the House of Representatives.
Mayor Steve Wilson flew to Washington, D.C. last week to testify before the House Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health.
"I'm extremely disappointed - I think you could about say crushed - that after all this work to come up with a solution that ... they are going to see that die for 'principal and precedent,'" Wilson said.
Tidwell said the Forest Service is obligated to insist on fair market value.
"We want to do everything we possibly can within the current law to be good neighbors, to be partners to help out the City of Sisters," Tidwell said. "But we, the Forest Service have to obey the current law."
Wilson does not buy that argument.
"They have to obey the current law. They don't have to block the lawmakers from making a legal exception when an exception needs to be made," Wilson said.
Wilson believes the city should get the land at no cost because the small population of Sisters is footing the bill for a sewer system that will serve everyone who visits Sisters - including those who come to play on the Sisters Ranger District.
And, Wilson argues, the Forest Service stands to benefit substantially from the sewer, saving the cost of replacing drainfields and increasing options for seasonal housing at the Forest Service compound at the western end of Sisters.
"They have 25 EDU (equivalent dwelling units) of effluent to take care of, not to mention their kiosk, which has no long-term facilities," Wilson said.
The City of Sisters offered a compromise that would have provided the Forest Service with free hookups and 10 years of free service, but, according to Wilson, Forest Service officials and Democratic members of the subcommittee backed away from the deal at the last minute.
According to a congressional staffer who asked not to be named, the Democratic minority on the subcommittee believed that the compromise numbers did not add up to the value of the land.
"Ideally, we think the city should pay fair market value for the land," the staffer said.
However, Wilson thinks there was some confusion as to whether the value of the land was calculated based on the minimum 160 acres needed to build the treatment plant or on the 240 acres the city sought in the original legislation.
The bill is not dead yet. Congressman Greg Walden plans to bring the matter before the subcommittee again after the summer recess, in about five weeks.
"We're going to bring this up again," said Walden staffer Kevin McDermott. "We're going to take another crack at it when they reconvene in September."
Tidwell indicated that a deal is still possible.
"Based on ongoing discussions, there may be some other things that can be worked out," he said.
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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