News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sisters residents may soon be able to check out a book and drop off a ballot or pay their water bill with one stop.
The Deschutes Public Library District is considering building a new Sisters Library where the former Sisters Middle School now stands. The City of Sisters may build a new City Hall in the same area.
"The (school) district is very interested in selling a portion of the middle school property to both the city and the library," said Sisters School Board Chairman Glen Lasken.
The library and city would build separate facilities.
Such a sale is currently under discussion, Lasken said.
"We are very close to reaching an agreement and I'm very optimistic that we will reach an agreement," he said.
None of the parties involved would discuss details such as price, the size of parcels or exact locations on the nearly four-acre property.
The property became surplus to the school district once a new high was completed and middle school students were moved to the "old" high school.
The land is zoned Public Facilities, which means only a government or public agency can be sited there.
The decommissioned middle school site was the community's top choice for a new library site, according to DPLD Director Michael Gaston. The DPLD board of directors agrees.
"Our assessment is that it would be a great site if we could make it work," Gaston said.
A primary consideration, Gaston noted, is that building there would be comparable in cost to two other sites DPLD is considering. Gaston declined to state where those sites are located, other than that they are within the city limits of Sisters.
"So far, we've found the school district and the city extremely cooperative," Gaston said.
Sisters City Administrator Eileen Stein confirmed that the city is "interested in a portion of the middle school property" for a new City Hall.
"We're looking at maybe a 5,000-square-foot building," Stein said.
She emphasized that required size of the building has not been confirmed.
The city has been looking for a new city hall location for nearly a decade.
The city purchased the two-story building that houses Multnomah Publishers for that purpose.
However, the building turned out to be impractical for use as a City Hall. Extensive changes would be required to bring the building into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
According to Stein, those changes added up to $80,000 to $90,000, including installing an elevator, remodeling and adding restrooms and widening a staircase.
Stein said the council is discussing what to do with that property if they build City Hall elsewhere.
Stein, Gaston and Lasken all expressed optimism about the possibility of co-locating, although the details must still be worked out.
"At this point, the devil's in the details," Gaston said. "We're very optimistic about it."
According to Lasken, the fine-tuning of details does not have to do with price.
"There appears to be an agreement between the parties as to the value of the property," Lasken said.
Lasken said the school district has received offers from both DPLD and the City of Sisters and is preparing counter proposals.
He expects those proposals to be before both parties within "a few to several days," he said.
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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