Major shakeup in City planning

A major shakeup is underway in the City of Sisters' planning department, which has been the focus of intense scrutiny and criticism over several issues in recent months.

Sisters Community Development Director Pauline Hardie resigned Friday afternoon. The resignation will take effect March 20; she will remain on staff until then to wrap up her duties and orient a replacement.

"She has accepted a position with the City of Bend," City Manager Andrew Gorayeb reported. "It affords her the opportunity to work in a different environment that is potentially less stressful (and) offers better compensation, she avoids a 20-hour per month commute and can spend more time with her children."

Hardie took the position of community development director in July 2010, after being hired in 2007 as a senior planner.

"Her contributions are enormous, and she will be sorely missed," Gorayeb wrote in a letter informing the city council of her decision.

Earlier Friday, planning commission member Cort Horner resigned the position he took up in July, citing the need to focus on his other personal and professional commitments.

The City of Sisters is also parting ways with senior planner Eric Porter and is looking to hire an associate planner.

The department has come under intense scrutiny numerous times over the past several years in controversies over decisions ranging from the issuance of temporary-use permits to the recent staff approval of food carts sited at a downtown business. The City has acknowledged that staff failed to follow standard practice in handling the site-plan review in that case, and numerous others, and the Council has directed staff to come up with clear code language in an effort to avoid a recurrence.

Several people associated with the most recent controversy have taken a beating in social media, including calls from critics for planning commission chair Alan Holzman and city attorney Steve Bryant to step aside.

Mayor Chris Frye expressed concern that the climate surrounding the planning department and City politics in general is pushing people away.

"Contention and controversy are to some degree always going be a part of the political landscape," he told The Nugget. "The concentrated effort of a few to cast aspersion, attack character, and question integrity on a personal level is what is causing these individuals to leave or think about leaving. Quite frankly it makes me mad, and it should make the community at large mad as well. Anyone who knows Darren Layne, Cort Horner, Alan Holzman, Pauline Hardie, and Steve Bryant know that these are people of unquestionable character and integrity, and they most certainly do not deserve the personal attacks that they have had to endure.

"It saddens me greatly that Sisters has lost and is losing such a talented group of individuals; however, the well of talent runs deep in this town and we will continue on," he said.

At the same time, Frye recognized that the City must improve its work.

"The goal of staff and this council is to improve transparency, better public outreach, engage the community, and work at ensuring good process is being followed," he said. "As we improve in these areas, I expect the climate to change. To receive trust we first must earn trust and we understand that takes time."

The department is engaged in ongoing efforts to reform code regarding transient and temporary businesses, formula food establishments, and back-in parking.

The undoing of back-in parking on Main Avenue and a couple of side streets is of keen interest to many in Sisters Country, but planners have not had time to tackle the issue.

"Back-in parking is still on the back burner," Gorayeb told The Nugget. "We hope to get it addressed in the next two to three months, but (it) may take longer due to unexpected disruptions."

In its hiring notice, the City described the associate planner position: "Under general supervision, the associate planner conducts reviews on current development applications and sign permits; works on long-range land-use plans; writes findings, notices and reports; and conducts weed abatement. The associate planner will have frequent and direct interaction with the city council and planning commission and other advisory groups and the general public."

Porter was hired as Sisters' community development director in September 2007. He stepped back to the position of "principal planner" in July 2010, citing ongoing vision problems, and Hardie was named community development director, the position she now holds.

"We will move forward and find a qualified replacement," Gorayeb said of Hardie's departure. "Pauline will help train that replacement and the associate planner position as well."