Watching Sisters grow

If you haven’t been out and about lately in Sisters, other than a trip to the grocery store or post office, take a tour to areas you don’t regularly visit. Drive, ride, or walk to all four corners of the city limits and down the side streets.

You will discover many new homes under construction in all parts of town. Warehouses and live/work buildings are filling up the northern light industrial area. A new Mid Oregon Credit Union building has taken shape on Arrowleaf Trail. The new Ski Inn Tap Room & Hotel on East Cascade Avenue is slated to open in late spring-early summer. The City is currently having a fourth well drilled in the Creekside Campground to add to the local water supply. Construction just began at 210 E. Sun Ranch Dr. on a 6,912 sq. ft. warehouse building for local builder Curt Kallberg.

Any number of establishments in the downtown commercial area have new owners and/or new names. The Gallery Restaurant and Bar is now owned by Timbers Bar and Grille that also has Bend and Redmond locations. The former Sisters Depot Deli is now owned by Debra Yannariello and Eryn Ross of 503 Uncorked restaurant and wine bar in Sherwood, and is slated to open soon. SoulShine & Co. on West Hood Avenue has changed its name to Marigold & True with the same owner and merchandise. On the lawn east of Marigold & True is a vegan food cart called Nourish.

What was Shulers’ Pizzeria located between East Cascade and East Hood avenues, next to Dutch Bros. Coffee, has a new black and white paint job and will soon be opening as Cibelli’s Pizza, which has other locations in Central Oregon. Another white building with black trim is the newly opened Sisters Historical Museum on the corner of North Larch Street and East Cascade Avenue. The former home of George Wakefield, the museum showcases the early history of Sisters, with rotating displays, and offers walking history tours in the warm weather months.

What aren’t currently visible are the land-use applications either recently approved or under review by the City. Laird SuperFood has received approval of its site plan for a 26,412 sq. ft. warehouse on the corner of North Pine Street and Lundgren Mill Drive.

Sisters Cottage Inn, 215 N. Locust St. (behind City Hall) received approval of its site plan for a “hotel” with seven rooms in detached small cottages including ancillary functions (lobby, laundry, manager’s quarters).

The lot at 352 E. Hood Ave. (across from Ace Hardware) has been approved for division into two parcels. The Barn, to be located at 171 E. Main Ave., has an approved site plan for an eating/drinking establishment with a new 1,760 sq. ft. structure enclosing the bar and commissary kitchen. There will be an outdoor seating area, firepit, stage, and four mobile food units, including Boone Dog Pizza.

Following an approved rezone, Jeriko Development has submitted for review a Master Plan and Subdivision to create a 14-lot industrial park at 800 W. Barclay (the former northern section of the Forest Service property). Modification to the Habitat for Humanity Village Meadows Master Plan is also under review to replat four residential lots to 10 residential lots.

As of last Monday, November 16, the approval was final for a request to rezone the center portion of the Forest Service property from Open Space, Public Facilities, and Urban Area Reserve to Downtown Commercial, Multi-family Residential, North Sisters Business Park, and Open Space to accommodate future residential, commercial, and mixed uses.

A site plan review and partition decision were issued and became final on November 2 for the ThreeWind apartment development behind Bi-Mart. They still need to complete a final plat application and submit their building permits before construction can begin. The commercial component is forthcoming and will need to go through land-use review.

In partnership with the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), planning and land acquisition is underway for the city’s second roundabout planned for the intersection of East Highway 20 and Locust Street, a long-standing traffic bottleneck and safety concern.

The City and ODOT have also begun early negotiations with the Forest Service for possible acquisition of the East Portal property (at the beginning of Scenic Highway 242) to create a future transportation hub or other amenity.