Planners discuss siting of chain restaurants

At a lightly attended Sisters Planning Commission meeting Thursday, city planner Eric Porter outlined the city's proposals to update the city development codes pertaining to "formula food" (chain and fast-food restaurants) in the highway commercial areas.

The highway commercial zone encompasses the areas on the outskirts of both ends of town where Ray's and Bi-Mart are sited in the west, and the FivePine campus is to the east.

The city is seeking community input on the proposed changes at a Town Hall meeting, tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, February 5, at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall.

None of the commentary pertains to the downtown core. Currently, there are no code restrictions that would preclude a national chain from locating in the downtown core. The current code limits drive-through restaurants. This, too, is a possible subject for discussion at the town hall meeting.

"The city used to regulate drive-thrus based on proximity of driveways," Porter said. "In 2010 we decided to change the code, and we did it in a manner that, A, we defined what a formula food establishment was, and, B, we no longer restricted the distance from one driveway to another, but rather we restricted how close one formula food establishment could be from a similar type of facility.

"The original intent was to restrict national chains, primarily fast-food restaurants," continued Porter. "Now that is not to say that we wanted to eliminate them, it is just to say that we wanted to restrict their placement and make it appropriate to the scale of the city of Sisters."

Porter said, "We are considering a text amendment that would actually broaden the definition of what a formula food establishment is with the hope that we are going to be able to attract more local franchises that have multiple outlets in the region.

"There are very few locations remaining in Sisters where formula food establishments can be located. We want to make commercial districts more vibrant, (and) offer more options to residents and tourists in Sisters."

Under current regulations, a formula food restaurant can have no more than three locations. This precludes not only national chains, but also regional, multi-site businesses such as Baldy's BBQ, Deschutes Brewery, El Caporal, and Pappy's Pizza.

The city is proposing to change the current definition of a formula food provider from one having three locations up to 10 locations. This would allow local "chains" such as Deschutes Brewery. Baldy's BBQ, or Pappy's Pizza, but would still exclude the national chains. The city looked into adding restrictions such as requiring a Central Oregon headquarters, but it appears this may open some legal issues.

The proposed change led to a widely circulated rumor that the city wanted to allow up to 10 fast food restaurants. That is not the case; in fact it is not possible. Given current proximity restrictions (400-foot separation) for the highway commercial areas, there are only about four possible formula food locations in the area near Ray's, and a single possibility southeast of town. There is currently nothing in the proposed code language to change that requirement.

City resident Dixie Eckford questioned whether there was any way to restrict new occupants to existing closed restaurant buildings and regionally based enterprises. Planning commission chair Alan Holzman noted that there is no such restriction, but that it would be a good discussion topic for the Town Hall meeting.

Commissioner Daryl Tewalt suggested that a mid-range family restaurant chain, like a national seafood chain with more than 10 locations, may still be a good fit for Sisters.

Chris Wilder of Sisters Log Furniture & Home Decor, and Sisters Log Furniture Outpost said, "I'm glad we are having this conversation, and I thank Eric for bringing this up. I'm concerned that we may be leaving the downtown merchants unprotected. Is the thought to allow something like this in the downtown merchant core? I don't want to walk away from the 'historic Sisters.' That is my main concern."

Holzman pointed out, "I believe that we are talking solely about highway commercial here, not the downtown or business park zones. There can be no restaurants in light industrial areas (Barclay), but we do allow breweries. We don't regulate formula food uses in the downtown commercial district. That might be a good topic for the town hall."