Wednesday, November 18, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
CHANGES: A second
reading is set for
Thursday morning
Continued from page 1
improve code enforcement,
to make the code easier to
understand, and to clean up
the code regarding issues
that have been identified as
problematic.
Ordinance No. 464, con-
cerning transient merchants,
has prompted considerable
public input and Council
deliberation spanning more
than a year. The major stick-
ing point involved whether
transient merchants should
ever be allowed to locate on
Cascade Avenue and if so,
when.
Besides public testimony
and the receipt of letters
from Sisters business owners,
Council members recently
conducted their own informal
surveys of citizens and busi-
ness owners to solicit their
thoughts on transient mer-
chants and public events.
Councilor Nancy Connolly
surveyed only residents of
Sisters, since she, as she put it,
“was elected to represent the
interests of her constituents.”
Other councilors surveyed
a mix of residents and busi-
nesses. Because she is newly
appointed, Councilor Andrea
Blum listened to recordings
of previous testimony to help
her in her deliberations.
“We’re not going to come
to a perfect solution,” Blum
said after much discussion
among Council members.
“We’re going to find the place
to start. This is the best we
can do for now. New situa-
tions will keep coming up.”
Blum recommended that
Council move forward with
the best consensus available
at this time. She also sup-
ported a previous suggestion
to appoint a committee of
those involved in the transient
merchant issue to evaluate
the results of a year under the
amended code and recom-
mend any needed changes.
Councilor David Asson,
who favors no restrictions
on transient merchants, con-
tended that because the sur-
vey was “not a professional
survey, it means nothing and
only provided false data.”
Asson also contended that by
not allowing transient mer-
chants on Cascade, Council
was creating “some major
financial disadvantages to
those involved.”
The change in code to not
allow transient merchants on
Cascade Avenue at any time
was approved by a 3-2 vote,
with Asson and Councilor
Amy Burgstahler dissenting.
A second reading will occur at
the next meeting of Council.
The other major ordinance
modification that has involved
considerable time, public
testimony and letters con-
cerns the matter of whether
other public events should
be allowed during citywide
events.
In the past, four annual
events were considered city-
wide: the Rodeo parade,
Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show,
Sisters Folk Festival, and
Harvest Faire. Public Works
director Paul Bertagna and
his staff recently analyzed the
amount of time and person-
power required during those
four events, a driving factor
in considering whether or not
an event is citywide.
Bertagna reported that
the Rodeo parade is an hour-
and-a-half event that requires
some setup and takedown of
signs, traffic cones, and barri-
cades, and some traffic direc-
tion. The SOQS requires a full
day of their time. Sisters Folk
Festival requires three days
and Harvest Faire two days.
City Manager Andrew
Gorayeb reported that in
the past, the City has never
really tried to coordinate traf-
fic management during the
parade with the Deschutes
County Sheriff ’s office.
They have had one meeting
recently, with more planned.
Gorayeb believes that the
traffic issues surrounding the
parade can be ameliorated,
thus putting less demand on
public works employees.
We’re going to find
the place to start.
this is the best we can do
for now. New situations
will keep coming up.
— andrea Blum
For the past 14 years, Arts
in the Park has been held in
Creekside Park during Rodeo
weekend. City Council gave
their approval for the event
14 years ago. If the Rodeo
parade continued to be con-
sidered a citywide event, and
the amendment disallowing a
public event during a citywide
event was passed, Arts in the
Park would not be allowed.
Presented with Bertagna’s
and Gorayeb’s information,
Council agreed that the Rodeo
Parade need not be considered
a citywide event.
When Burgstahler pro-
posed several hypothetical
public events that could occur
without interfering with a
citywide event, the Council
agreed to allow non-commer-
cial public events during a
citywide event.
School-sponsored events
on school district property
will not require a public-event
permit, but private events on
district property will require a
public-event permit.
The Council voted 4-1 to
approve the amendment that
no other public events, except
those identified as non-com-
mercial, can be held during
citywide events, with Asson
casting the lone “no” vote,
requiring a second reading of
Ordinance No. 465.
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