What will become of USFS property?

If the U.S. Forest Service property housing the Sisters Ranger District headquarters at the west end of town sells, what will be built on that land? That has been a big question on the minds of Sisters citizens ever since the Forest Service announced the property was for sale.

City staff is continuing to explore options to facilitate and support future land-use entitlements on the property. The "middle" portion of the property is approximately 32 acres and zoned Public Facility (PF). The Comprehensive Plan text designation for this area identifies three development options, all of which indicate a desire for thoughtfully planned mixed-use development.

Option A would include relocating the Ranger District to the 13 acres north across Barclay Drive with mixed use on the remaining land, which could include highway commercial, downtown commercial, residential, and light industrial. Option B would be for residential with some commercial and a buffer along Highway 20. Option C is another variation of the same components.

At a variety of past public forums on the best use for the property, suggestions have included a performing arts center, a community swimming pool, affordable housing, a large City park, and commercial establishments, among others.

One option being proposed by staff to the Planning Commission for consideration is for the "mixed-use" portion of the property to have Downtown Commercial (DC) zoning with a type of overlay or area-specific development standards. Downtown Commercial zoning offers permitted land-use opportunities for mixed-use development in its Purpose Statement and Table of Uses.

The DC district could be amended to have a sub-district or "carve-out" that specifically applies to areas west of North Pine Street, north of Highway 20, and south of Barclay Drive (the USFS 32 acres zoned PF). There is precedence of this type of sub-district specific zoning in the current DC development code text in the Adams Avenue corridor, with east and west of Fir Street having different permitted uses.

Staff believes this approach to zoning for the USFS property could be advantageous in that it could achieve the desired mixed-use development without creation of an entirely new zone or development review process.

Community Development Director Patrick Davenport told commissioners that part of the Sisters Country Vision Project gave some direction to support the future entitlements processes on the Forest Service property.

The commissioners were asked by staff to begin consideration of the proposal, and it will be discussed further at future meetings.