City seeks input on future of Forest Service land

The City of Sisters will be holding a community forum on Wednesday, June 15, at 5:30 p.m. to gather input on four concept plans that may guide future development of the Forest Service property. The meeting will be held at Sisters City Hall.

The property is located between Highway 20, Pine Street, and Barclay Drive in Sisters, and is currently occupied by the Sisters Ranger District and the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) Maintenance Facility.

The City of Sisters, the U.S. Forest Service, the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development and ODOT have teamed up to create four concept development options for the property. The program is funded through a Transportation and Growth Management grant through ODOT.

The four design options have unique development characteristics. The concept plans will be used by the Forest Service to help market the property. The individual development options are generally characterized as follows:

• Option A would extend the downtown corridor along the Forest Service

property.

• Option B would create a gateway to downtown Sisters.

• Option C would create a village concept that would act as a transition area between downtown and highway commercial land to the immediate north.

• Option D would retain the land as future park land (the land would need to be purchased from the United States Forest Service).

Community members will have an opportunity at the forum to review the concept plans, ask questions of city, state, and Forest Service staff as well as the consultant team that prepared Options A and B, and provide suggestions for improvement of any of the concepts.

Copies of each concept plan will be available to the public at the community forum.

City Hall is located at 520 E. Cascade Ave. For more information contact Eric Porter, principal planner for the City of Sisters, at 541-323-5219 or by email at [email protected]