News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sisters planning commissioners are recommending that the Sisters City Council approve a zone change and comprehensive plan amendment on the McKenzie Meadows property at the west end of Sisters.
Five planning commissioners were present at the continuation of a hearing on the matter on Thursday, August 19. Commissioner Doug Roberts, who has a business relationship with the applicants, recused himself and did not participate in the discussion or vote.
The remaining four voted unanimously to recommend approval of the applicants' request. The zone change will allow multifamily unit development including a long-planned senior living facility. McKenzie Meadows lies along McKinney Butte Drive directly north of Sisters Middle School.
The developers of the property are Bill Willitts, Curt Kallberg and the Reed family.
The property was originally to be zoned for single-family residential development, which would not allow the assisted-living facility and other multifamily units the developers are planning. The property was approved by voters for annexation to the city in 2006 on the basis of "mixed-use" development.
The zone-change hearing is the first of several steps involved in making the project a reality. The developers are near completion of a master plan which will have to be approved by the city; then a site plan will have to pass muster.
The planning commissioners' recommendation will go before the city council on September 9. The first hearing on the site plan is set for Thursday, September 19 before the planning commission.
The recommendation came with conditions attached.
The developers must pay a fee of $670 per EDU (equivalent dwelling unit) in lieu of transferring water rights to the City of Sisters. If the developers exceed 240 dwelling units, they may be liable for expansion of city infrastructure for water and sewer to accommodate additional impacts.
"I don't expect that to happen," said planner Eric Porter. "I think we've got enough capacity for their whole development... It's just a safety net for the city."
Traffic impacts may be another story.
"Traffic is going to be tightly scrutinized by ODOT," Porter said. "It could be that we put trip caps on the development. I just don't know what the thresholds are at this point."
Traffic impacts are, however, expected to be less under the zone change than they would have been under previous proposed zoning for the site.
Several people who live in the adjacent Hayden Homes development testified about concerns over high-density development and its potential impact on their property values.
Porter noted that developers working on the site plan have already moved two apartment buildings that originally were adjacent to the Hayden Homes development.
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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