News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Residents of the Panoramic subdivision east of Sisters off Camp Polk Road are poised to make a weighty decision this November 4. They will vote on whether to tax themselves to pave their roads for the first time in the 30-plus year history of the subdivision.
Ballot Measure 9-68 calls for a local option tax of $6.56 per $1,000 of assessed property value for 10 years to fund a total of $1,185,193.27 (including financing costs) for the paving project.
The proposal hinges on two questions - affordability and quality of life.
Proponents argue that paving will make travel in the subdivision easier on cars that get beat up on the rural roads and improve safety by allowing better access for emergency vehicles.
Opponents argue that paving will fundamentally change the rural character of a subdivision.
Everyone acknowledges that the project is an expensive proposition in tough economic times.
"The roads are old," said Janet Zuelke, President of the Panoramic Access Special Road Service District. "We grade them often, whenever we can, to maintain them. We're down, basically, to the road bed."
Zuelke said the three-person board explored four options for dealing with the roads in the subdivision: doing nothing; adding gravel in bad spots at a cost of about $150,000; regraveling the whole system at a cost of more than $400,000 or doing the chip sealing and oil matting at a cost of $910,000.
Zuelke said the board held three public hearings and the sentiment there was overwhelmingly in favor of paving.
But not everyone in the neighborhood likes the idea.
Brent McGregor, who has lived in Panoramic for decades, says that gravel roads are a big part of the character of the neighborhood, which is home to many artists and known for an "Old Sisters" kind of country charm.
"Gravel roads, to me, exemplify rural living," McGregor said. "I like living off the paved road."
He says this is at least the third time paving has been proposed and he hopes it will be shot down again. He doesn't like being required to "spend thousands of dollars out of my pocket to buy something I don't want."
McGregor questions why residents would come to Panoramic and then alter its character.
"For some reason, they moved in on a dirt road and want to change it," he said. "Why didn't they move into a community that was paved?"
Zuelke says the roads have just gotten too bad.
"In summertime, it's not too bad," she said. "Winter time, it's disastrous. It wreaks havoc on our cars. I've had to have my car realigned several times over the course of a few years."
The rough nature of the roads is a boon for some. One Panoramic resident expressed concern that paving the roads would just encourage people to speed through her neighborhood where they now have to take it slow.
But the argument over rural character may be secondary to dollar-and-cent concerns.
Zuelke said that the assessment won't start until 2009, and the board expects to pay for the project in much shorter a span than the legally allotted 10 years. She also noted that there is assistance from the county for anyone for whom the tax bill would be a hardship threatening their ability to stay in their homes.
Still, she acknowledged, the project is not cheap and the times are hard.
"Who knows, when the rubber meets the road, whether they'll vote for it or not," she said. "This economy is tough. It may not pass."
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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