Hotel on hold for a month after commission meeting

Plans for a new hotel in Sisters are on hold for a month after the applicant agreed to take another crack at the plans.

That decision came in a marathon session of the Sisters Planning Commission on Thursday, December 18.

A new commercial/residential development on the north side of Sisters won approval, but it is likely that economic conditions will prevent either project from going forward immediately.

The city's planning department recommended both the New Sisters Village Hotel and Black Butte Crossing projects for approval, with conditions. The planning commission opted to delay a final decision on the hotel for another 30 days, and approved the Black Butte Crossing proposal.

Black Butte Crossing, located south of the new Sisters post office, is at least two years away from the first buildings, and the planning commission agreed to extend the time to final build-out to eight years.

The New Sisters Village Hotel, which when fully developed will have 92 rooms, is sited across from Les Schwab Taylor Tire Center on Hood Avenue. The hotel developers propose to build in two phases, with Phase 1 having 57 rooms, a swimming pool, spa, lobby and administrative services. Phase 2 will have an additional 35 suites. Extensive landscaping is also proposed.

The hotel design is based on Sisters' 1880s theme, with some of the features inspired by the old Pilot Butte Inn in Bend, which was actually constructed in 1917.

Most of the public testimony on the hotel was in opposition to the project. The main concerns were the size and scale of the building, particularly the roofline, the inclusion of an amphitheater on the Pine Meadow Village side of the site, and the location of the dumpsters.

Wendy VonKalinowski, an architect licensed in California and who now resides in the Sisters area, stated that "(The hotel) is not an appropriate scale and mass for this community." In her professional opinion, the roofline could be lowered without losing accommodation space.

The applicant's architect, Joe Van Lom of Van Lom Group, disagreed. Sisters Planning Director Eric Porter also cautioned that the design is legally allowed and that changes in the design at this stage of the process could be unduly costly.

When deciding to stay a decision for 30 days, the planning commission requested a new site plan showing the removal of the amphitheater and new placement of the dumpster area, and asked the architect to at least consider altering the roofline to reduce the massive scale of the building.

The major issue concerning the Black Butte Crossing project is placement of a temporary traffic signal at the Locust Street/Highway 20 intersection. The developer is willing to pay the upfront cost, which the development group estimates to be $480,000. Brad Grimm, Sisters Public Works Director, disputed that cost, stating that his estimates were nearly twice that high.

Regardless, the City of Sisters would put in $200,000 and would reimburse the developer through System Development Charge (SDC) credits. A condition of approval is that the signal be in place before occupancy of the development can occur.

There are some unknown variables attached to this part of the proposal, one being that the temporary signal might not be compatible with the Draft TSP (Transportation System Plan) that is underway. The planning department opinion was to proceed anyway; the developer's engineer indicated that the temporary signal could be easily upgraded to comply with the TSP and that the signal would begin to ease the traffic problem at the intersection even without the extensive work called for in the TSP.

Public testimony mostly dealt with issues on which the developer is willing to be flexible. These related to the traffic signal, placement of lighting, height of the buildings that are within a view easement, and traffic flow around and through the project.

Peter Storton, principal of Sisters' RE/MAX Town & Country Realty, has been involved with the project from the start. He said, "They have really been interested in doing what our community wants."