Wednesday, February 3, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Of a certain age…
By sue stafford
Columnist
After 12 years in my
comfortable home on
Whychus Creek, it is time
for me to downsize and
economize, hopefully with-
out giving up my own front
door and patch of garden.
That’s much easier said than
done, particularly if I want
to continue to live in Sisters,
which I do.
It’s no secret that afford-
able housing to buy, in my
case under $200,000, is non-
existent in Sisters. So are
affordable rents, if I could
even find a rental available.
So what are those of us over
70 with limited incomes
going to do? Whatever I am
able to realize from the sale
of my home must go toward
living out the rest of my life.
And who knows how long
that will be?
The possibility of mov-
ing back to Portland, where
I was born and raised, or
Seattle, where I spent 33
years before moving to
Sisters, is out of the ques-
tion. Both areas are among
the most expensive in the
country, to say nothing of
the rain and the traffic.
There are several newer
trends in the housing indus-
try that could go a long
way toward alleviating this
dearth of affordable hous-
ing. Everyday on Facebook
are numbers of posts regard-
ing “tiny houses” starting
at about 200 square feet.
Everything is compact,
simple and multiuse. On my
computer screen they look
cute and charming. With
a starting price tag under
$50,000, some slightly
larger version of one of
those might be doable —
except where would I put it?
The other trend is what
is referred to as “missing
middle” housing, which was
very prevalent in U.S. cit-
ies until after World War II,
when the Leavittown phe-
nomenon came into being
and families left the cit-
ies and moved in droves to
the housing developments/
subdivisions in the newly
minted suburbs.
Prior to that time,
between 1870 and 1940,
was the heyday of medium-
scaled housing in American
c i t i e s . To d a y ’s “ N e w
Urbanists,” the leaders in
the missing-middle move-
ment, say the needed hous-
ing encompasses a variety of
dwelling types: townhouses,
duplexes, triplexes, two- and
three-flats, row houses, and
bungalow courts. I remem-
ber well the tidy brick bun-
galow or apartment courts
in Portland – one-story indi-
vidual dwellings or attached
apartments often built in
a U-shape around a center
courtyard from which each
resident entered their own
unit.
A modern-day varia-
tion of the bungalow court
is a single lot on which are
constructed four or five
small detached cottages
built around a common cen-
ter courtyard. They can be
built either for sale or kept
as rentals. They are a best-
of-both-worlds compromise
between private and com-
munal, while offering viable
financial options.
The beauty of a duplex is
the ability to buy or rent one
side of it, or buy the whole
duplex and rent out one side
while living in the other.
The option is always open
to sell the other side.
There is a smattering of
duplexes, townhouses and
cottages throughout Sisters,
although many of them are
in Pine Meadow Village
where the starting purchase
price is out of my range
and rents are way north of
$1,000 a month.
Here in Sisters, as in
many other places, there
are a number of factors that
currently deter builders
from building any of these
alternative housing options.
First things first, there
would probably need to be
changes made in the city
and/or county land develop-
ment codes and zoning to
allow for a range of multi-
unit or clustered housing
�
� � � � � � � � �
�
�
A Sweet Deal!
� � $300 �
Discount
For the month of February
when you start a comprehensive
treatment program!
Smile by Shae
New Patients Only.
Not valid with any other offer.
541-382-0410
410 E. Cascade Ave., Sisters
CentralOregonBracePlace.com
types compatible in scale
with single-family homes,
so they can be part of new
single-family detached
developments as well as on
lots scattered throughout the
community.
Given the costs of land,
labor, and materials, plus
conforming with regula-
tions, housing that is mid- or
lower-priced often doesn’t
pencil out for developers.
As the middle has dwin-
dled, financing has become
more difficult for the
smaller builders who usu-
ally attempt these types of
projects.
And finally, there is the
NIMBY factor — the sin-
gle-family detached housing
owners who are opposed to
multi-unit developments
next to them.
It will take a combination
of many factors to facilitate
the development and con-
struction of missing-middle
housing here in Sisters. In
addition to changed codes
and City-offered incentives
to builders, we may have
to think outside the box —
perhaps enlisting planning
or design assistance from
college architecture students
whose designs could be part
of their practical experience
while lowering building
costs.
I am a believer that
where there is a will there is
a way. If there are enough of
us with the will, we can find
a way. And it needs to hap-
pen soon.
19
OSU-Cascades buys
pumice mine property
BEND (AP) — Oregon
State University-Cascades
has purchased a pumice mine
for the expansion of its Bend
campus.
The university will pay
more than $7.9 million to
4R-Equipment, a subsidiary
of local construction com-
pany Jack Robinson and
Sons, to close the deal for the
46-acre property, according
to The Bulletin. The univer-
sity intends to open the new
campus to students when the
2016-17 school year begins.
University officials had
been eyeing the property
since 2013, when it pur-
chased an adjacent 10-acre
site. Building has been under-
way at the smaller site since
last summer. Even before the
deal for the larger property
was finalized the university
had begun preliminary plan-
ning for a larger campus.
OSU-Cascades officials
say they plan to eventually
enroll 3,000 to 5,000 students,
but the new campus will open
this fall with a student popu-
lation of about 1,000.
OSU-Cascades President
Becky Johnson said Tuesday
that the larger site will be
developed in stride with stu-
dent growth.
“Now that we will have
a campus next year, we will
start to get that bump in
enrollment we expect,” she
said.
Johnson said the school is
continuing to consider pur-
chasing a third property adja-
cent to the first two.
OSU-Cascades has been
embroiled in a legal battle
with opponents of the cam-
pus. With citizens’ group
Truth in Site raising concerns
about how the campus could
affect livability and traffic in
Bend’s west side.
Truth in Site’s appeals of
the city’s decision to approve
the campus plan have been
rejected by the state Land
Use Board of Appeals and
the Oregon Court of Appeals.
The state Supreme Court
declined to hear the case last
month.
Truth in Site has argued
that by purchasing the 10-acre
property first, the university
skirted a city requirement for
a more comprehensive plan
for any development larger
than 20 acres.
J o h n s o n s a i d s h e ’s
unsure what kind of resis-
tance the university will
face when it seeks approval
for the expanded campus,
but believes that the first
phase was not duplicitous
and should help calm some
concerns.
“My goal all along has
been to get the 10-acre site up
and running so people can get
used to what it’s like to have a
small university campus,” she
said. “I honestly don’t think it
will be as impactful as people
think.”