Plan seeks to enhance Sisters

In the 1890s, Sisters was a charming little Western town. It still is today. And if all goes according to plan, it still will be in 2025.

The City of Sisters has proposed an Urban Renewal Plan for the downtown commercial area. A public workshop Thursday, June 19 at City Hall provided visuals, information and time for comments and questions on what this plan would make the town look like in the future.

The plan is intended to develop downtown as the commercial and cultural center of the Sisters community.

Specific elements of the Plan would make street, sidewalk, parking and building improvements in the district. All changes would remain consistent with the city's Western theme.

The Plan thus far was developed with the guidance of the Urban Renewal Advisory Committee, a group of Sisters residents, business and property owners.

Assisting in the vision for Sisters are "highly-qualified experts," according to City Planner Neil Thompson. These experts are Planning Consultant Jeff Cashman and Architect Mark Seder.

The Urban Renewal Plan would be built around qualities the city already has in place, Cashman said.

There are seven goals of the plan as created by the Advisory Committee:

The first is to "strengthen downtown Sisters' role as the heart of the community," including expansion of the range of commercial services in downtown Sisters, development of civic and cultural facilities and improvement of local buildings.

The plan is committed to "improving vehicular and pedestrian circulation," as stated in goal two. This would be tackled by providing an alternative route to Cascade Avenue to relieve downtown congestion and use of the alley systems downtown for pedestrian and bicycle circulation.

Many at the workshop came because of concerns regarding this portion of the plan.

Brad Boyd, a city resident and owner of Eurosports on Hood Avenue, expressed apprehension about talk of a couplet to relieve traffic problems on Cascade Avenue.

In the past, discussions of how to implement a couplet in Sisters meant changing Cascade Avenue into a one-way street. Boyd is strongly opposed to this because he feels it will destroy the pedestrian-friendly feel of downtown and make Sisters too much like downtown Redmond, he said.

"I want Sisters to be a viable community catering to both tourists and residents," Boyd said.

However, the couplet that is currently on the drawing board is different from the one discussed before. If a couplet is put into action, Hood Avenue will be one-way eastbound and Main Avenue will run one-way eastbound.

That's still not ideal, said Renee Perin, co-owner of the Fly Fisher's Place and also a Sisters resident.

Perin said no matter how good the Urban Renewal Plan is, if the city does not get the roads done correctly, it could be a complete failure.

"Overall, the Urban Renewal Plan is right on," Perin said. "It all hinges on this traffic."

Perin and Boyd agree that a bypass would be the best option to solve traffic problems on Cascade Avenue and still encourage business downtown.

The city has considered a bypass before and found one both prohibitively expensive and difficult to achieve due to land-use restrictions.

Aside from the specific issue of how to solve the traffic problem, the response to the Urban Renewal Plan was quite positive.

Other goals of the committee are to "promote a mix of commercial and residential uses oriented to pedestrians" (goal three).

The objectives of this goal are: to develop a year-round pedestrian environment; assist property owners in maximizing the benefits of pedestrian circulation; provide parking that is not imposing to the pedestrians; and promote housing units above commercial spaces to expand housing options in Sisters.

The fourth goal is "enhancing the pedestrian environment" by adding public parks, a town square and public gathering places.

One of the primary objectives is to create "a public 'living room'" in the heart of downtown Sisters, as stated in the Urban Renewal Plan documentation available at City Hall.

When asked about the location of the new soul of the city, Cashman said there is a good possibility the location of the Cascade Street Square would be on the current City Hall property and the Sisters Oil property next door. This is just a prospect at this point in time, he said.

The plan promotes "high quality design compatible with the Sisters western architectural theme" (goal five). To accomplish this, the city may make available professional expertise to help business and property owners and possibly also provide financial assistance for redevelopment.

Providing public parking facilities and improving the design of streetscapes is part of goal six to "encourage intensive development in downtown properties."

The consensus of the planning commission was that buildings should line the street front with parking around back.

Lastly, goal seven was to "promote employment to generate year-round jobs."

The estimated cost of the Urban Renewal Plan is just under $10 million. Project costs are anticipated to be funded by the sale of long and short-term tax increment bonds.

There were some pointed questions from the planning commission; however, Thursday night's agenda was simply to see if this plan was compatible with Sisters' comprehensive goals and if the plan should be forwarded to the city council.

"The city is not giving anything up by adopting this plan tonight," said Sisters City Planner Neil Thompson.

The commission gave the Urban Renewal Plan the thumbs up.