City works on temporary business regulation

On several levels, the City of Sisters is trying to get a handle on the right approach to regulate temporary business activities in the downtown commercial district.

The planning commission is in the process of dealing with an appeal of their ruling on a temporary use permit (TUP) for Celia Hung and Richard Esterman's proposed 180-day-per-year use of the vacant lot next to Sno Cap Drive In as a recurring tented small-vendor venue. The planning commission will address that issue on Thursday, August 21, at their 6:30 p.m. meeting at City Hall.

Prompted by the concerns that issue has kicked up, the city council is grappling with defining two issues: How to clearly, fairly and simply define the intent of temporary merchant regulation; and, second, how to craft an understandable, simple-to-use and easily enforceable set of regulations and licensing criteria and fees.

According to earlier citizen testimony, the City's current 180-day-per-year TUP, regulated through the land-use code and therefore overseen by the planning commission, has been a problem that previous administrations have avoided addressing for years.

The longer-term permanent regulation issues clearly represent a challenge for the council.

At Thursday's council workshop, the council debated the pros and cons of various forms of temporary merchant regulation, using City staffer Lynn Fujita-Conrads' "talking points" memo as a basis for the discussion.

The first talking point involved a transient-merchant ordinance that would require that any transient merchant activity be on "improved property." The improvements would include: curbs, gutters, and sidewalks; on-street parking; restroom facilities; active water, sewer, and electrical services; and ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act) compliance.

The council debated the restroom requirement and agreed that allowing unscreened porta-potties for larger events is unavoidable. It was agreed that the ADA compliance requirement was desirable, but that the details would need significant staff research and clarification. For example, can a gravel or grass surface be considered "in compliance"?

The second talking point revolved around the concept of a public-event permit. This permit would be for public events on private property in the downtown commercial zone that includes more than 10 transient merchants. The "improved property" requirement would be in effect. There would be a limit on the number of public events per year, and there would be a per-vendor fee.

The third talking point focused on a temporary business license. This license would cover temporary businesses that would be open more than seven days per year, five days a week, at least five hours per day. There would be a limit of 45 consecutive days per year. The business would be required to take place on "improved property," and the business would have to comply with the zoning that applied for that property, including the 1880s Western theme.

The issue of allowing temporary merchants to capitalize on the three big Sisters "superbowl weekends" (rodeo, quilt show, folk festival) was discussed. The concept of "black-out" days was dismissed, but the idea of uniformly applying increased fees on those weekends drew support from the councilors and remains open for discussion.

All the councilors expressed the need for several further workshops on this issue to flesh out the details.

In a separate yet related action, during Thursday's regular session, the council voted 5-0 to deny the Hung/Esterman request for a waiver of the transient vendor fees collected from the 50 or so vendors at the tent-vendor complex erected during quilt show weekend. Part of the transient vendor fee ordinance says that the council can, but is not required to, waive the fees when the vendor activity is deemed "a benefit to the city."

"The fee is what the fee is as we sit here today, and that is what we charged," said City Manager Andrew Gorayeb, "We weren't penalizing them (Hung/Esterman). We weren't doing anything extraordinary. We were just conducting business as we always do."

Mayor Brad Boyd asked Fujita-Conrads, "Can you tell me or characterize for me who we waived these fees for in the recent past?"

Fujita-Conrads replied, "We looked back as far as 2009 and the fees that have been waived were for fundraisers or non-profit organizations."

Councilor David Asson expressed concern about how to clearly determine "benefit to the city." While he did not appear to get his concern resolved, he ultimately voted to deny the waiver.

This Thursday the planning commission will review and possibly vote on appeals of the TUP granted to Hung/Esterman earlier this year. The issue was bound over from the July planning commission meeting because both appellants requested the seven-day open-record period for further written commentary, as allowed by City code. Appellant Hung/Esterman is seeking to remove all conditions from the TUP, and appellant John Keenan (and Jean Wells Keenan) is seeking denial of the TUP.

Because of this extended comment period, the commission heard public comment on the issue, but has yet to discuss the appeals.