BBR retreats on Welcome Center plans

Bowing to unrelenting pressure over its controversial new Welcome Center, Black Butte Ranch (BBR) is changing its plans.

BBR has submitted a modification request for its entrance facilities site plan with Deschutes County. The original paperwork has been modified to remove the proposed Welcome Center portion of the project from the application.

According to Paul Blikstad, Associate Planner for Deschutes County, the Deschutes County Hearings Officer has reopened the written record and will allow written comments on the modified project until January 19. The hearings officer will then review all comments and will render a decision on the application.

The Welcome Center portion of the project has not been abandoned. It has just been placed on the back burner for the time being and will be addressed at a later date. The purpose of the amendment to the application is to allow at least a portion of the project to proceed with a minimum amount of hindrance.

Gary Holbrook, owner of the architecture firm responsible for the design of the entrance project, had mixed feelings about the changes in the permit application. He was happy that some construction may be able to proceed but disappointed that the full complex will not be built at the same time.

Holbrook believes that the end result will be the same - but it will cost more by the time the complete project is finished.

"It will just delay the Welcome Center, and the other portions are just going to come earlier," he said.

The problem for the Ranch is the sticky question of whether the proposed site is a wetland.

"The ranch is looking at hiring a separate wetlands consultant as a third party," Holbrook said. "They are going to do a delineation on site, probably this spring."

He explained that the best time to conduct the research for the report is in the spring which is historically the wettest time of the year, after the thaw and snow melt.

"We have to find out what the results of that are going to be before we know how it is going to proceed," he said.

Holbrook believes that in the end, the obstacles will be overcome and the Welcome Center will proceed, although he does acknowledge that a "mitigation and soil removal permit will be required."

The area sited for the Welcome Center is not very large and he reports that, "the Corps (Army Corps of Engineers) has already stated that it is small enough that it falls under quarter-acre requirements, where it is really just a fill and removal permit. It's a very straight-forward process."

Blikstad was a little more circumspect when addressing the issue of the future permitting of the Welcome Center saying, "It will be interesting to see what happens with the Welcome Center down the road."

Holbrook said splitting the project to allow them to proceed carries a downside.

"One of the real problems with splitting this up is that the Welcome Center had a bit of a cost savings, just because we were doing three buildings in the same area," he said. "Now that it is split off by itself, it will definitely cost more."

However, Loy Helmly, general manager of BBR said, "By being able to remove the Welcome Center temporarily while we resolve our concerns there with some of our property owners, then we can move ahead with our other projects which were not a concern to those same property owners."

Holbrook added, "The thing was - there was just no choice."

With regard to the potential additional costs, Helmly did acknowledge, "There may be some inflation as it may be a year away before we can start that (the Welcome Center) in 2008. But who knows what will happen with the economy between now and then - we'll just hope for the best."

Frank Beuhler, project manager for the capital improvement project, reflected on the additional final costs for the entry project.

"Delays are always expensive, and we will have to support the cost of a third construction season," he said. "The bottom line is that it (the delay) has cost us about $200,000. That is what it looks like from here, and I don't know what they are going to do about it."

According to Holbrook, if the amended application is granted and the permit is issued, two buildings will be constructed in this portion of the project. The community complex building will include a post office, a community meeting room and space for the administration offices. Adjacent to that building will be the new police services building.

"They are hoping to start construction in the spring," he said.