News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
The site of the Sisters Ranger District headquarters will probably contain a mix of commercial development, housing and public facilities when the property is sold and developed.
The Forest Service hopes to have a 53-acre portion of the current headquarters site located along Pine Street on the market in September of this year, with an anticipated sale in the spring of 2007.
In a Thursday, April 20, workshop, the Sisters City Council agreed to develop a zoning overlay that will indicate what types of development the city encourages on the property.
City Planner Brian Rankin said it would take about six months to develop the zoning overlay, with several public hearings as part of the process. Such an overlay would likely set particular thresholds for different types of zoning — for example, 20 percent Highway Commercial; five percent Public Facilities and so on.
The councilors shared a general consensus that the property should have some highway commercial use, some general commercial use and some public facilities zoning that could accommodate a community center or a park or some other kind of public use, not necessarily belonging to the city.
Councilors also expressed the desire to see the city’s one-in-10 affordable housing guidelines enforced on the property. There was some discussion as to whether the affordable housing would be single-family or multi-family or some combination of both.
Any plans for the property would involve a negotiation between the city and the developer.
According to project coordinator Rod Bonacker, he has been approached by a number of interested developers.
“Honestly, the guys I’m talking to have plans,” he said. “They come through my door with ideas.”
In response to discussion about the degree to which city requirements might diminish the value of the Forest Service’s land, Bonacker said, “I don’t think there’s anything you can do short of zoning it grazing land... that’s going to hurt the value of that property. You’re going to eliminate some bidders because they’re not interested (if certain restrictions are imposed) but in this market there’s nothing you could do that is really going to devalue the property.”
The sale of the property forms a major part of the city’s transportation planning. The City of Sisters plans to punch Main Avenue through the property to link up with Highway 20 in what would likely be the westbound arm of a couplet.
That would allow commercial development along that road frontage. According to Rankin, there could be eight to 10 acres of highway commercial development on the site.
The Forest Service plans to move into a new headquarters in 2008. Planners have narrowed down its choices for new sites to two: A location along the north side of Highway 20 at the intersection of Barclay Drive and a site on Barclay Drive east of Best Western Ponderosa Lodge. (Editor’s note: Locations given in the story “Ranger District to move in 2008,” The Nugget, April 19, page 3, were incorrect).
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.
Reader Comments(0)