Property owners seek cash or development rights

Two new Measure 37 claims have been filed with Deschutes County involving Sisters area properties. Both claims seek either compensation for property values lost as a result of actions taken by the county in changing land use ordinances or approval to proceed with their plans for development.

John Leason, Gertrude Leason, and their Pine Ridge Ranch Company on Goodrich Road east of Sisters have filed one claim. They are seeking either $4.5 million in lost value or permission to develop their 318-acre property as a planned unit development with a golf course or ability to subdivide the property into small parcels.

In their claim, they state that they acquired this property in 1971. Since then, Deschutes County has enacted regulations zoning the property as exclusive farm use. The Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development required land use zoning.

“Pursuant to Ballot Measure 37 (2004), you have 180 days from the date of this letter to provide compensation for the loss of fair market value of the property described above,” the Leason’s attorney wrote in a letter of transmittal for the claim.

“In the alternative, the offending statute(s), regulation(s) and/or ordinance(s) may be waived and uses may be allowed on the property which could have occurred at the time the property was acquired.”

Kristin Sorensen-Hilgart and Mark Hilgart filed the other recent claim for $1.2 million or more in lost value plus attorney fees and any other fees. Their 40 acres are located on Peterson Burn Road west of Three Creek Road south of Sisters.

“My mom brought the property in 1976 for me, after my father passed away, in the thought that I would take ownership of the property in the future one day,” Sorensen-Hilgart states in her claim. “When my husband and I decided to move to Sisters and live on the property, we discovered it was zoned F-2, which limited us to one house on 40 acres and needing to get a conditional land use permit for that.”

She added that while the current property value is $275,000 as forestland, if they were able to divide the property into five-acre lots, the average price of the lots would be $174,000.

The first Sisters area claim was filed by Eugene and Barbara Prete seeking either $383,000 for the loss of their property value or approval to build a dwelling on their Cloverdale Road property east of Sisters.

The three Sisters area claims are among 17 filed with Deschutes County by the end of January, seeking either a total of $18,300,500 in lost value or approval to proceed with development plans allowed at the time they acquired the property.

“There has been no determination on the validity of any of these claims,” said Tom Anderson, director of community development for the county.

“That decision is part the process. Each claim will be reviewed with the county commissioners as we go through the process.

“The state Legislature is currently reviewing this issue, which could affect the outcome,” he said.