Conklin’s Guest House may become a restaurant

Sisters could be the new home of Jackalope Grill after Thursday night’s planning commission approval of new zoning for the Conklin’s Guest House property.

The Sisters landmark bed-and-breakfast is part of a planned development by the Dutch Pacific partnership that broke ground earlier this month on an adjacent business park along Barclay Road.

Developer Shane Lundgren told the Sisters Urban Area Planning Commission that he has a verbal commitment from Bend’s Jackalope Grill to operate a restaurant in the Conklin’s building. The high-end restaurant currently is housed in a strip mall development in Bend.

Jackalope Grill recently established a relationship with Caldera, an arts and children’s program retreat at Blue Lake west of Sisters. The restaurant provides catering services at Caldera and is interested in relocating its restaurant to Sisters, Lundgren said.

The planning commission unanimously approved a zone change on the Conklin’s Guest House property placing it under general commercial zoning. That zone is consistent with the recently approved Sisters Comprehensive Plan.

According to Lundgren, the restaurant proposal required an immediate zone change. The developers plan ultimately to create a mixed use overlay zone that would encompass the Conklin’s property, the business park and a residential transition zone abutting the Trapper Point neighborhood to the north.

The Conklin’s property will also include rental cabins and a water feature.

Lundgren said he also plans to renovate the barn on the property to allow it to be used for special events and gatherings.

Planning commissioner Carey Tosello asked Planning Director Bill Adams whether a left-turn bay will be constructed on Camp Polk Road to accommodate restaurant traffic and delivery trucks.

Adams said that the development does not warrant a turn bay, nor a reduction in posted speed into the foreseeable future.

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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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