Circle 5 changing to permanent residences

New manufactured homes are making a residential area out of the Circle Five Mobile Home and RV Park on the outskirts of Sisters on Highway 20.

New owners Scott and Jane McCleery have hired new managers Cory and Denise Smith and have changed the name to Sisters Mobile Home and RV Park.

"We bought five double wides from Fuqua Homes in Bend," McCleery said. "Each is a two bedroom, two bath with about 900 square feet of living space. They'll look like a stick-built house once we put on siding and dormers -- they're real nice.

"We'll be renting them out, as soon as we can get permits from the city."

He noted that he would also like to have space rental available for those who own mobile homes and need a place to live.

It's part of a gradual plan to change the makeup of the park. What was once a place for out-of-town contractors or vacationers to park a recreational vehicle for a long or a short-term stay will make way for a more permanent residential community.

According to city planner Neil Thompson, the zoning of the park is residential. The RV use is not an appropriate use of residential zoning, according to Thompson, but was grandfathered in when the park was brought into the city.

The changes at the park are gradual enough that they won't trigger city review.

"Right now, they have told me that they are exchanging five units of manufactured homes for another five units," Thompson said. "They are taking older units out and newer units are going in their place. This kind of a one-for-one trade out does not require a site plan review."

Assistant Manager Charlotte Goodenough said that dual use of the park will continue for now.

"Right now, as well as a mobile home park, it's an RV park. We have RVs that live here," she said. "Existing mobile homes will either be sold or they will be re-done. Most are so old, they will probably have to be sold, and new ones brought in."

Thompson also indicated that replacing a single wide with a double wide mobile home is a less intensive use and probably wouldn't require a site review plan either. Such a plan would be required if individual lots within the park were to be re-configured, or different driveways put in.

The park is not hooked up to the sewer, although it may be required to hook up once the system is completed.

Septic systems won't be a problem, according to the planner. "All the chemicals of an RV toilet are harder on the environment than a septic system," Thompson said. "Sewage from houses is actually much less difficult to deal with."