Gutenberg College clears first hurdle

Gutenberg College has cleared the first hurdle in its effort to relocate to Sisters.

Members of a diverse audience gave public testimony at the Wednesday, February 23, meeting of the Sisters Urban Area Planning Commission that was generally in agreement with the city staff recommendation to approve Gutenberg's request for a modification to the city's development code.

The final planning commission vote was 4-2, recommending to approve Gutenberg College's request for code modification that would allow a college in the light industrial area as a conditional use. The final decision will rest with the city council. Gutenberg College hopes to occupy the old Multnomah Publishing building across Larch Street from the Sisters Post Office.

Gutenberg is a 16-year-old Eugene-based Christian college modeled on the "Great Books" colleges. The Gutenberg curriculum results in a four-year accredited degree in liberal arts. There are currently about 50 students enrolled. The college is looking to move their entire operation to Sisters. (See The Nugget, January 22, 2011 edition for related stories.)

More than 20 people signed up to give public testimony on the appropriateness of allowing the college to occupy the light industrial zoned parcel. The speakers were a varied group made up of potential business neighbors, potential residential neighbors, other business owners, builders and citizens. Every speaker supported bringing Gutenberg to the community, and each expressed their approval of the location.

City planner Eric Porter detailed all the state and local criteria that city staff had to review and play against Gutenberg's request. The city found no problems, and several precedents for a college zoned into a light industrial area.

Porter also requested written input from a wide variety of sources. He did not receive a negative response. The Federal Aviation Administration had no comment, though the building under consideration lies in the overlay zone for the Sisters Airport.

Benny Benson, president of Energyneering, a local biomass engineering company located at Sisters Airport, spoke in support of the Gutenberg application. He said he felt compelled to point out that the Multnomah building is in both the flight path and the noise path for the airport. Benson indicated that the FAA had no problem with a manufacturing company in such a location, but the location of a school in the flight path could prove a little tricky.

The location of Gutenberg College relative to the airport is likely to be a primary topic in a March 16 hearing on Gutenberg's request for a conditional use permit.

Gutenberg president David Crabtree and Porter both spoke to the need to modify the parking requirements to meet Gutenberg's specific requirements. Current parking requirements for schools are based on number of classrooms. Crabtree is requesting that the code basis be modified so that the number of parking spaces required is based on number of students.

Estimates based on the number of classrooms would require 200 parking spaces, even though Gutenberg only has 50 students now, and never anticipates more than 150.

While speaking in support of the Gutenberg College's move to Sisters, Mike Morgan raised a concern that was echoed by commission chair Alan Holzman: The Multnomah building is the only building in town that is "move-in-ready" for a light manufacturing company.

Holzman voted against recommending the code change.

Ed Protas, in explaining his vote against the recommendation, stated that "zoning means that we create the zones that we want to identify how we want the city to grow. We don't change the zoning every time an applicant comes along and says we want to put something else in; we go back and make it a conditional use permit. I don't think that is how zoning should

work."