City snapshot

• Hayden Homes has submitted a new application to the Community Development Department for a modification to the original master plan for Village at Cold Springs, with an update to current code and public works standards. The eastern portion of the original master plan is undeveloped (17.26 acres). Hayden has reworked their original design proposal presented for this property at the June Planning Commission meeting. The application will be considered at the August 18 meeting at City Hall at 5:30 p.m. At that time, interested parties will be able to make public comment. Hayden is hopeful to get construction started in 2016.

• In response to queries from members of the public regarding skydivers continuing to land at North Sisters Business Park despite no conditional-use permit having been issued for that activity on that property, City Manager Rick Allen wrote: "As a matter of policy for all members of the public when it comes to issues relating to codes, we first advise them of the potential issue and then work with them to gain compliance. This issue will not be treated any different."

• City Council, the EDCO due diligence committee, and interim City Manager Rick Allen have been refining the original criteria for the City's forgivable loan program that was adopted in July 2015.

At a Council workshop last week the participants agreed on two changes to the original criteria.

To be eligible for a loan, a business must be creating new jobs with new employees, not just retaining current employees.

The business must meet the definition of a traded-sector business, which does a majority of its business outside the local area.

Traded-sector businesses bring new dollars into the local economy from outside Sisters Country.

If a business is relocating to Sisters, rather than establishing a new enterprise, the existing business must be more than five miles out from the city limits.

There is currently $150,000 in the City reserve fund allocated for the program.

The agreed-upon changes will be made to the original loan document, which will be reviewed by legal counsel and returned to City Council for adoption.

• A month into the search for a new senior planner, the City of Sisters has only received a few applications.

Interim City Manager Rick Allen reminded Sisters City Council that the Community Development Department is where the real action is at City Hall, especially in boom times with more construction and new businesses opening.

The department handles a myriad of tasks including all permits, land use, litigation, complaints, and planning.

The senior planner is a very important position, one on which Allen said the City cannot scrimp.

In order to compete with larger municipalities and the private sector for qualified, experienced candidates, Allen recommended to Council that it might be necessary to increase the salary currently being offered for the position.

• A free shuttle bus to and from the Deschutes County Fair this week, Wednesday through Sunday, will pick up and drop off riders at the Sisters Elementary School parking lot on East Cascade. The shuttle will leave Sisters every day at 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. (except on Sunday) and will leave the fairgrounds to return to Sisters at 3:30 p.m., 5:30 p.m. (which will be the last bus on Sunday), 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, and 11:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.