City snapshot

• The Planning Commission and the Housing Policy Advisory Board will hold a joint meeting on Thursday, April 18, to review the Housing Needs Analysis with the consultant who prepared it.

• At the April 24 City Council meeting there will be a public hearing on the McKenzie Meadow Village land-use packages. Public testimony will be taken. Written comments may be submitted for the record prior to the meeting.

• City staff is working with NXT Consulting to create a 16-page brochure explaining the Sisters Horizons Vision to be used as a tool for promoting Sisters by the Chamber of Commerce, EDCO, Sisters School District, and any number of businesses. It should be completed and coming off the press by late May or early June. The Vision Implementation Team will be appointed at the start of the 2019/20 fiscal year.

• Sisters Habitat for Humanity will be celebrating the grand opening of their new thrift store on Cascade Avenue in the former Sisters Drug and Gift building on Saturday, April 27 at 9 a.m. The current thrift store building will be sold, with the proceeds going toward paying off the new building. A small army of volunteers has been working every day for six weeks to prepare the new store.

• Community Development Director Patrick Davenport reported that since the new short-term rental (STR) regulations took effect, the City has denied 16 STR applications due to the 250-foot buffer required between rental units. Davenport said there are currently about 90 STRs in town. June 30 is the cutoff date to obtain an STR operator’s license for those who had an STR prior to the new regulations.

• The Deschutes County Commissioners will come to Sisters on April 25 at 5:30 p.m. to present their plans for non-prime resource lands. Those lands include exclusive farm use (EFU) and forestlands that are not being used for their intended purposes. The commissioners are considering reserving those lands for future development. There will be discussion about how the County’s plan affects the Sisters Horizons Vision Plan. The meeting will be in Council chambers at City Hall.

• There is one opening on the Urban Forestry Board for a one-year term for someone representing the Development community. Contact Paul Bertagna for information 541-323-5212.