News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
A month after a majority of the Sisters City Council voted to allow "park model" trailers to occupy 12 to 16 spaces at Mountain Shadow RV Park, councilors are having second thoughts.
Because the vote to change an ordinance to accommodate the trailers was not unanimous at the July 27 meeting, a second vote was required. But the matter never made it back on the council's agenda and now it appears that it won't.
"It would appear that the issue is dead in the water," Mayor Steve Wilson told The Nugget after a Thursday, September 7, workshop.
Wilson said the councilors had second thoughts about allowing the trailers, after several weeks of heavy RV traffic in Sisters. Wilson noted that the RV park's conditional use permit is designed to allow the park to "serve the traveling public."
"The lag time allowed the whole issue of demand and the need for an RV park to serve the needs of the traveling public to be re-addressed," Wilson said.
RV traffic is up nationwide, Wilson noted, and Sisters has limited facilities to accommodate the vehicles.
"Encumbering 12 to 16 spaces with park models isn't going to ease that shortage," Wilson said.
Park model trailers are officially designated as RVs. Owners generally choose a site for the trailer, drop the axles off and build a deck around the unit.
The owners use the trailer for a vacation cabin.
The city had been reluctant to allow the trailers, due to concerns about people using them as long-term residences.
RV park manager Tom Anderson had been negotiating with the city for over a year to win approval of the units, which he hoped would offer a year-round revenue source for the park.
Anderson said he had not officially received word that the city council was not going to bring the matter up for a second time.
He said he was unable to comment.
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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