Planners take tough stance on Hayden Homes development

Hayden Homes’ bid to build a 400-unit housing development near Sisters Middle School is riding a bumpy road.

At a meeting of the planning commission Thursday night, the Sisters Planning Department recommended that the Planning Commission deny the application to build 400 new homes west of town.

Senior Planning Director Bill Adams addressed the Planning Commission and a packed City Hall:

“Maybe the applicants are trying to put a square peg in a round hole,” he said.

The Hayden Homes development lies in an area of the city that is zoned as a multi-family sub-district. Hayden developers had hoped to win exemptions or modifications to this zoning from the planning commission to develop predominantly single-family homes.

While the multi-family sub-district can have single-family homes, its original intent was to provide homes for people who cannot afford to buy a medium-sized house on a medium-sized lot, Adams explained to The Nugget.

He noted that there has been concern about the degree of density in the development.

“This is a multi-family zone and it requires nine units per acre in order for them to do their (Hayden Homes) product, which is primarily single-family/detached,” said Adams.

“You could do all detached, I suppose if you wanted the planning commission to grant a ton of exceptions,” he said.

Some of those exceptions include the width of setbacks required for each building.

“You have the option of granting some exceptions in return for a better development. Well, I don’t believe we got a better development,” Adams said.

Attorney Donna Krawczuk of Ball Janik LLP, representing Hayden Homes, told the planning commission, “If you don’t make any modifications for us or exceptions like you did for The Pines (a nearby development), then you’re not going to get single-family dwellings. This is not a threat from us.”

The Hayden Homes representative informed the commission that there are no “affordable homes” slated for the development due to the high cost of system development charges and the high value of the land.

“If you think affordable housing, I don’t want to leave you with that impression,” said David Cady, project manager for Hayden Homes. The price range of homes in this development will start in the $200,000 range and go to $500,000.

Cady said that Hayden Homes had been talking to the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity about the possibility of providing some affordable homes.

A stay of the application was also recommended as an option by the planning department in order to allow for changes to the city’s development code. Such changes would clarify some of the issues at stake in the Hayden Homes development.

The development process and rewriting policy in the development code cannot happen at the same time, according to planners.

Adams told The Nugget that if the applicants decided to take a stay on their applications while the city updates its development code, they would have to start their plans all over again. Hayden Homes did not provide any response to this option during the meeting.

Holt Ganong, a resident of The Pines development, testified at the podium.

“My concern is how is the infrastructure going to be in place to properly handle this kind of demand. How are you going to increase my property taxes to do that?” he said.

Most members of the commission felt that the lots of the development were too small, but they indicated they would grant some setback exceptions.

The Planning Commission decided to hold a continuation of the meeting on Thursday, June 16 at 6:30 p.m. at Sisters City Hall.