Sisters plan up for adoption (again)

The plan that is to guide Sisters into the future is coming up for final review.

On Thursday, July 28, the Sisters City Council will see the latest recommended version of the Sisters Comprehensive Plan. If the plan is adopted after a public hearing, the event will cap a process 15 years in the making.

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

One change endorsed by a unanimous vote of the Sisters Urban Area Planning Commission will bring into the Urban Growth Boundary 30 acres of residential land known as the McKenzie Meadows Village (McKinney Butte) instead of the originally recommended Leithauser property at the north end of town.

The McKenzie Meadows Village lies just north of the Sisters Middle School campus.

Sisters adopted its first comprehensive plan in 1979. This has served as the only plan over the last 26 years. The plan review process started in 1990 and has been impeded by multiple revisions in an attempt to keep up with changes in Sisters.

Timeline for adoption (subject to delays from appeals process):

• Thursday, July 21, 8 a.m. Planning staff gives overview of current Comprehensive Plan document (open to public).

• Thursday, July 28, 7 p.m. Regular city council meeting: Public Hearing possible adoption Sisters Comprehensive Plan.

If the city council votes do adopt the comprehensive plan then it proceeds to the county level.

• In August, the Deschutes County Planning Commission and Board of Commissioners (in separate hearings) consider adoption of the Sisters Comprehensive Plan.

• With county approval, the comprehensive plan must then be acknowledged by the state of Oregon through review by the Department of Land Conservation and Development.