News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sisters officials have not deployed a building moratorium in order to preserve sewer funding, but they haven't removed it from their arsenal.
The city council postponed a decision on a moratorium until its March 13 meeting, awaiting word from the federal Rural Utilities Services (RUS) that $2 million in grants and loans for Sisters' sewer system will be forthcoming.
RUS warned the city in November that growth was threatening the "low- to moderate-income" status of the community and could jeopardize grant funding. The city already lost an $800,000 grant for lower income users from the Oregon Economic Development Department. The city did secure other funding from that agency.
The council was to decide on a moratorium in January and has now twice postponed any action.
According to Mayor Steve Wilson, city officials won't put the possibility of a moratorium to rest until they are sure the funding agencies are no longer worried that grants would be funding development.
"We haven't received notification that is no longer a concern," Wilson said. "We're operating on the assumption that we still need to tread cautiously."
Meanwhile, the city is still trying to decide whether to buy land for its sewer treatment facility outright from the Forest Service for about $600,000, or to trade sewer services for the land under legislation crafted last year by Sens. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore.
According to Wilson, the city has asked Smith to clarify some potentially troublesome quirks in the Senate bill.
As it stands, the bill includes an indefinite reversion clause that allows the Forest Service to take the land back if it is used for anything other sewage treatment and disposal.
The city wants to be sure the bill doesn't preclude recreational uses such as wildlife sanctuaries on the land under use and bike and hiking trails on unused portions of the land.
The bill also specifies that the city can receive either 160 acres or 240 acres from the Forest Service.
According to Wilson, the bill should read "up to 240 acres." If the city is required to take 240 acres instead of the 238 it needs at most, it could considerably increase the appraised value of the land.
A full 240 acres could theoretically accommodate a forest dwelling, increasing the value of the land.
Wilson said that, if those points can be clarified, the city would probably favor a services-for-land exchange, rather than outright purchase.
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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