City considers scrapping TUP

The City of Sisters planning commission members gave the nod Thursday night to the concept of removing a majority of the Temporary Use Permit (TUP) language from City code. This move would clear the way for a concept the City council is developing that may include creating a temporary business license (TBL) in the code.

Community Development Director Pauline Hardie approached the planning commission with a general outline of what she said the council has been working on in several public workshops.

Hardie said, "The City council is reviewing options for different types of finance permits: Those are special events, transient merchants, and business licenses. In the process of reviewing those licenses we have noticed what other cities do that have temporary business licenses. The temporary business license that we are crafting right now would be the conducting of a business of limited duration of a minimum of seven days to a maximum of 45 days."

The TBL license would be part of the City code and not be subject to review or control by the planning commission, which is focused on land-use issues.

Because of their long-term impact, land-use issues are subject to a much more detailed level of review, extensive public notification and comment requirements, and involve considerably more paperwork for both applicant and City staff.

While the TBL is still in the concept stage with the council, and may change significantly before the concept is ready for public hearings, the council, via Hardie, wanted to test the waters with the planning commission to make sure there were no major upfront objections or concerns.

Commissioners voiced no major concerns.

As part of her presentation Hardie included temporary business license data from the cities of Ashland, Leavenworth, Redmond and Medford. She also noted that the idea is to leave only "section F" of the current land-use TUP intact. This section allows for temporary sales offices, model homes, and construction buildings and trailers.

The current TUP is for 180 days and is part of the City development code. Hardie reported that in her six-and-a-half years with the City there have been only three requests for a TUP; these were Richard's Produce, Wild Mountain mushroom stand, and the current Hung/Esterman application for a lot on the corner of Oak Street and Cascade Avenue.

The controversial Hung/Esterman TUP application has once again brought up the concern of local brick-and-mortar businesses over the length and use of the current six-month temporary-use permit. Regardless of what is decided by the City council or the planning commission, the current Hung/Esterman TUP will not be affected since that application is already active. However, the application, which staff approved, is now in limbo because the planning commission called it up for review. Given continuances and potential appeals, it appears likely that the application will not go into effect in time for any summer-season actvities.

Hung and Esterman held their Sisters Artists Marketplace on the property during quilt show weekend under a series of individual permits for vendors.

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Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

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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