Assisted living moving out of land-use limbo?

Plans for assisted-living facilities in Sisters may be moving out of land-use legal limbo.

In response to a remand from the Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA), Sisters City Council approved a resolution Thursday night to deny the appeal by Pinnacle Alliance Group (PAG) regarding modification to an existing master plan and a site plan for McKenzie Meadow Village (MMV).

The modification would accommodate shifting the location of the proposed assisted living facility by more than 25 feet to allow for the construction of a smaller facility than originally approved in 2010. The modification of the site plan would entitle the development details associated with the assisted living facility.

Council's prior approval had been appealed by PAG to LUBA and due to some technicalities and missing documentation, it had been remanded to Council to reconsider and correct.

A letter was received on June 23, the day of the hearing, from PAG's attorneys, Perkins Coie of Portland, requesting that the City Council deny MMV's applications for the modifications. The letter basically reiterated the arguments made by PAG in their original appeal to the Council in July 2015 of the Planning Commission's decision, which they later appealed to LUBA.

They argued that new impact studies should have been required for the requested modifications. There will be fewer units in the assisted-living facility than originally proposed - 57 vs. 82. The City staff, traffic engineer, public works staff, and assisted-living facility developer Kevin Cox all provided information and data necessary to support the decreased impact of the modified plan.

MMV's attorneys presented detailed findings of fact to counter item-by-item PAG's assertions. No one representing PAG was in attendance at the hearing. Council voted 5-0 to deny PAG's appeal and approved amended conditions of approval for their original decision.

The ball is now in PAG's court. They can accept the Council's decision or they can appeal again to LUBA. If LUBA were to dismisses their appeal, PAG could take it to the Court of Appeals and eventually all the way to the State Supreme Court. If they were to go that route, development of the MMV assisted-living facility could be delayed indefinitely.

MMV attorney Laura Craska Cooper told City Council that MMV partner Bill Willitts told her, "Not a single week goes by that I don't get asked when we will be building the assisted-living facility so that a Sisters resident can move their father or mother here to Sisters."

Also delayed is cottage housing and affordable apartments for seniors planned as part of the MMV development.

Still to be considered by LUBA is PAG's third appeal regarding the Planning Commission's extension granted to the MMV subdivision.

In the meantime, no work has begun on PAG's own assisted-living facility approved for the property next to the post office, between Larch and Locust. No explanation for the delay has been offered by PAG, despite past attempts by The Nugget to contact PAG developer Mark Adolf.