City working on Creekside park fixes

The City of Sisters is moving closer to fixes for Creekside Park that will make it more functional for travelers in their RVs and less of a burden for neighbors who feel increasingly impacted by the presence of the park.

City staff presented a phased proposal to the City's parks board on Wednesday afternoon.

The proposed actions would eliminate four sites close to Locust Street, which are a problem for neighbors; eliminate one site along the Tyee Drive border of the park; replace those sites by converting five sites in the center of the park to full-hookup sites; move the dump station to the east; and improve and increase screening berms.

Plans also call for creating a parking area for "walk-in" camping at the eastern end of the park and developing some dry-camping non-RV sites.

Plans call for widening an apron inside the park near the Locust Street entrance to eliminate "staging" out on the street and eventually closing the Locust Street entrance entirely. Closing the Locust Street entrance would please neighbors, but, as planned that is a "Phase III" development, dependent on opening an ingress/egress on Highway 20 near the weigh station.

Sisters Public Works Director Paul Bertagna explained that the land in that area is up for a land swap between the Oregon Department of Recreation and the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). ODOT wants the land for eventual highway widening. Bertagna encouraged the City to let its needs be known so that a park entrance might be eventually acquired from ODOT and to include it in an updated Transportation Systems Plan.

That's a solution that most at Wednesday's meeting seemed enthusiastic about - but it can't happen until land is swapped and ODOT has defined its plans for that area of Highway 20.

"That's where I think you could enter the discussion," Bertagna said. "This is down the road, guys."

An entrance/exit on the highway could also alleviate another traffic problem: the long wait and ensuing traffic backup as long RVs await an opportunity to turn west on Highway 20 to head back over the mountains at the end of a stay.

Parks Board Chair Liam Hughes noted, "The entrance directly onto the highway has a lot of advantages, but I know that may be beyond our control."

That leaves the City and the neighbors to cope with the Locust Street entrance, for now. The entrance/exit there is problematic in part because RV drivers miss it, then head up into the adjoining neighborhoods to turn around. Some of the rigs are huge, and this creates an impact on the neighborhood. RVs also "stage," idling on the street while drivers enter the campground to secure a space.

Neighbor Gary Kutz, a civil engineer by trade, testified that the entrance should be closed.

"We should access the campground from a commercial street, not a residential street," he said. "Locust is not a good entry for the park, period."

However, Kutz and other neighbors were open to a compromise that would turn Locust Street into an exit-only portal, with signage denoting a right turn only, toward town and Highway 20.

Improving signage all around, with significantly better visibility, is considered an absolute necessity, so that drivers know where they can and can't go.

Park neighbor J.J. Yakovella testified passionately about the impact of the park on the neighborhoods. He noted that traffic in the area is increasing for a variety of reasons - people drive through the neighborhoods to bypass the highway, and new construction is on the books for the neighborhoods and at FivePine.

"Please start looking at the long-term picture here," he said.

Neighbors like Yakovella acknowledge that that the park long pre-dates the neighborhoods that have grown up around it, but they assert that usage has changed, along with the nature of RV traffic. In recent years, RVs have grown into behemoths.

"These are residential streets and these vehicles are just too huge to keep rumbling through," he said. "What we have is something that is in a bad place."

He says that the park has negatively impacted quality of life - and property values.

"I'd like to move away from this; my neighbors would like to move away from this," he said. "But we're stuck."

The City could limit the size of RVs allowed in the park, but there seems to be little traction on the parks board for creating exclusionary policies.

There is, however, a sense of urgency to address neighbors' concerns effectively and immediately.

Greg Johnson urged that as much work be done as quickly as possible to alleviate impacts.

"This is an urgent situation, in my mind," he said.

Executive Director of the Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce Judy Trego testified as to the importance of the RV park to the community.

"Lodging options in Sisters have not kept pace with our visitor volume," she noted.

She said she appreciates the City and the neighbors working on mitigation efforts to keep the park viable as a lodging resource for Sisters.

"We really appreciate your patience with our visitors and with our events," she said.

Other issues carry weight with parks board members.

Peggy Hogue noted that the campground has no ADA-compatible sites, and Bertagna agreed that that was an important consideration. Dixie Eckford is adamant that the tent-camping areas of the park be preserved, which the current proposal does.

The parks board directed staff on Wednesday to develop costs and timelines for implementing the preferred changes - including the feasibility of turning Locust Street into an exit-only - and bring them back to the board, which will make its recommendations to the City Council.

Author Bio

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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