News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Some residents of Camp Sherman are worried that proposed changes to the Jefferson County Comprehensive Plan and zoning ordinances could bring unwanted change to this quiet community along the Metolius River west of Sisters.
They and others packed the Community Hall Saturday night, June 17, for an informational meeting to prepare for a county public hearing scheduled in Camp Sherman on July 22.
“We’re giving you information so that you can develop facts and figures and give learned, informed and perhaps impassioned testimony (at that hearing),” meeting facilitator Kevin Adams told the audience.
Before the meeting was over there was a strong consensus that the community doesn’t want to wait till the hearing to weigh in on the changes.
At the crux of the concern is a fundamental change in Camp Sherman’s status under the proposed revised comprehensive plan.
Dick Kellogg, a Camp Sherman resident and veteran land use scholar, explained the history of Camp Sherman’s role in Jefferson County land use planning.
Back in 1981 when the current “comp plan” was developed, the county and Camp Sherman agreed... that there was some ‘specialness’ to Camp Sherman, he said.
That specialness was codified in a 52-page appendix in the comp plan that dealt specifically with Camp Sherman, acknowledged a need for “special planning” to meet the community’s needs and provided more specificity and detail about land use than the rest of the plan.
That appendix is not part of the proposed revision.
Instead, the plan will treat Camp Sherman like other “unincorporated areas” in the county, such as Crooked River Ranch.
Kellogg indicated that he understands the county’s reasoning in wanting to provide equal — but not identical — treatment to all areas under the comprehensive plan. But he is concerned that the proposed plan does more than just roll Camp Sherman into the rest of the plan; he thinks the plan and its implementing zoning ordinances could erode protections for the community.
Kellogg made an exhaustive analysis of the plan and ordinances to present at the Saturday meeting.
Kellogg does not think citizen involvement has been adequate. Gordon Jones, owner of Lake Creek Lodge, sits on the plan’s Citizens Advisory Committee, but the Camp Sherman Local Advisory Committee has never been consulted about the plan.
“I think it’s appropriate that the whole community have its say,” Kellogg said.
Kellogg also raised concerns about destination resort mapping that would allow for five destination resort locations in the Metolius Basin surrounding Camp Sherman.
Several of those properties, such as the Deschutes Basin Land Trust Metolius Preserve, would never be developed as a resort, he noted. Others, like some 10,000 acres owned by the Colson family of Portland, could be.
“The big elephant in the corner is the Colson property on the other side of Green Ridge,” Kellogg said.
He said that current zoning allows for development that could have significant impact on the Metolius Basin and its wildlife.
“What is the effect going to be with two or three or four major destination resorts in the Basin?” he said.
Zoning ordinance changes may have even greater impact on Camp Sherman than the comprehensive plan changes.
Kellogg noted that ordinances remove public hearing requirements for certain types of lodging unit development; liberalized uses in some zones allow for much heavier signage than currently allowed’ and allow for greater building height.
Kellogg said he was alarmed at language that appeared to him to allow a doubling of the density of development for lodge and tourist rental units. In a meeting with county planning staff, planners said they interpreted the current ordinance to allow such density, an interoperation they have apparently since abandoned.
While planners reportedly told Kellogg the “misreading” will be addressed, he said “We don’t want to let it drop. (Advocacy group) Friends of the Metolius is going to make a big deal out of it.”
Kellogg said he would like to see the state halt the comprehensive plan process and engage in workshops with the community to avoid creating an adversarial situation where lawyers are hired and battle lines are drawn — a situation which he said is unlikely to yield a plan satisfactory to anyone.
“It (the plan update) needs to be done and I don’t think we should resist it being done,” Kellogg said. “It’s just got to protect our land use ordinances and the things we fought so hard for.”
Early and vigorous action was heartily endorsed by longtime Camp Sherman resident and activist Becky Johnson. She urged the community to find a leader and present a united front to the county.
“What is at stake here is the special nature of the Camp Sherman area and the Metolius River,” she said.
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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