News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Efforts to reach a compromise on traffic issues surrounding two 30-acre industrial parcels hit a snag last week.
The Sisters School District and Barclay Meadows Business Park have drafted a development agreement to pay $143,800 and $138,300 respectively to mitigate traffic impact from future development.
The developers expect the money to be paid by end users as the land develops; the City of Sisters wants the money up front.
"We won't be able to mitigate any of the impacts until way in the distant future if we don't have the money up front," said Mayor Steve Wilson.
Wilson contends the city is being asked to make a decision without sufficient data on the future of Sisters' transportation system. That data will be available in a Transportation Plan that is expected to be completed in 12 to 18 months.
"If they want to jump ahead of the curve because its in their best interest, I have to protect my citizens and their interests," Wilson said.
Schools superintendent Steve Swisher called the up-front requirement a "deal killer" for the school district, which has no funds to pay directly for the mitigation (see related story, page 26).
"We couldn't (pay)," he said. "If we had to, I don't know what the recourse would be, frankly."
The city council is to vote on the development agreement on Thursday, February 24. Wilson said he expected the developers and the city to continue working on the document through the first part of this week.
The proposed development agreement was presented to the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners in a workshop on Thursday, February 17.
The commissioners are to decide whether to bring the two parcels inside the Sisters Urban Growth Boundary and rezone them for industrial use. A Deschutes County Hearings Officer recommended denial based on traffic concerns and concerns about future developments' compatibility with residential neighborhoods to the north in the Trapper Point subdivision.
The development agreement is designed to address those concerns.
Commissioner Tom DeWolf is wary about signing a development agreement that would become the key to an approval.
"If we become parties to this agreement, that's definitely heading down a particular path," he said. "This (the development agreement) becomes the deciding document and that's awkward to me."
In addition to traffic mitigation, the agreement also proposes that developments be capped at 68 percent of available building area and that uses be confined to those allowed outright under the Sisters zoning ordinance.
Those restrictions are designed to allay concerns of the Trapper Point neighbors.
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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