Plan for Sisters’ future is almost done

Wrangling over which developer’s parcel of land to include inside Sisters Urban Growth Boundary won’t derail long-awaited efforts to finish the Sisters Comprehensive Plan.

After seemingly endless rounds of writing and revising, city officials believe that the adoption of the plan is close at hand.

The plan is used to guide city officials on how Sisters grows and develops over a 20-year period. The plan outlines population growth, an inventory of commercial and industrial land while assessing future needs for housing, transportation, energy and a myriad of other civil characteristics.

Which lands to bring into the Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) and in what order are the latest areas of contention over a plan that has been challenged again and again over 10 years.

After an appeal forced the city to lower its population forecast, the amount of land to be incorporated dropped from 130 to 30 acres (see related story, page 8).

That means being at the front of the line is very important to a developer.

The order of incorporation of land is determined by a formula called a Site Feasibility Matrix, which ranks the properties according to specific criteria.

Some criteria of the matrix are the ease of connecting to infrastructure, walking distance to community amenities and negative impacts on existing developments.

According to the matrix formula, the three top ranking properties (in order) are: the Leithauser property, the Pine Meadow Ranch property, and the McKinney Butte property. The Leithauser property is north of Sisters’ Industrial Park and the Pine Meadow Ranch property mentioned lies behind the Patterson Elk Ranch and adjacent to the existing Pine Meadow Ranch development. The McKinney Butte property is between Sisters High School and the new Hayden Homes development site.

Each property is approximately 30 acres; only one at a time can be incorporated into the UGB.

At last Thursday’s Sisters City Council Workshop, Bill Reed, part owner of the McKinney Butte property, put forth a proposal to make additions to the matrix criteria.

Some of the variables that Reed would like to see included are walking proximity to schools, churches and commercial districts. With Reed’s suggested variables, the McKinney Butte Ranch would rank highest, according to Reed’s calculations, which would allow inclusion into the Urban Growth Boundary first.

In the preliminary visions for the McKinney Butte Ranch, Reed and Kurt Kallberg, also a part owner, see a senior assisted living facility, integrated income level housing, and one out of every 10 houses classified as affordable living accommodations.

According to Stein, the adoption of the city’s Comprehensive Plan has been put off long enough and city officials are moving forward.

“Rather than trying to incorporate it (Reed’s criteria) now and go back and re-do everything, we’ll work it into the formal public comment period,” she said.

“It just has the effect of delaying the adoption.”