Lazy Z for sale at east end of Sisters

The Lazy Z Ranch, a local landmark just east of Sisters, is back on the market.

According to Realtor Arnie Swarens, owner Joan Hull is asking $7.8 million for the 1,391-acre property, which includes two houses, 711 acres of Squaw Creek water rights, and another 290 acres of well irrigation rights.

Hull bought the ranch in 1991 for about $2 million.

The property is zoned for Exclusive Farm Use (EFU). Swarens said it is his understanding the ranch could be divided into "eight or nine different pieces to build on" of approximately 160 acres each.

Planning Manager Kevin Harrison of Deschutes County confirmed the 160-acre number if a buyer wanted to break up the ranch.

To receive permission for a new "farm dwelling," the minimum parcel size is 160 acres, and each new parcel needs to have a minimum of 63 irrigated acres in the particular land use zone in which the property is located, Harrison said.

Each new parcel also needs to have frontage on a public road.

"It would be wonderful to keep it the way it is, but we just don't know" what a buyer might do with the property, said Swarens.

He said there has been substantial interest in the property, which has been listed for less than a month.