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Wednesday, January 8, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
O
P
I
N I
O
Fun in the snow!
N
Development
threatens quality of life
By K. Meheen
Guest Columnist
Snow-lovers had to climb a
bit for it, but there was fun
to be had over the holiday.
PHOTO BY JERRY BALDOCK
2020 Nugget Deadlines
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To the Editor:
On behalf of all the members of the Sisters
Schools Foundation, I would like to extend a
very sincere <Thank-You= to all of our won-
derful Outlaw Country supporters!
Throughout the year and especially dur-
ing our annual giving campaign, we have
been gifted with your generous donations.
Our Foundation supports great local programs
for students, such as purchasing new musical
instruments for the band, new technology for
code programming in all three schools and the
outdoor learning programs ECoS and IEE.
Your donations also go to grants submitted
by local teachers for equipment or supplies in
innovative learning projects. In addition, each
spring the foundation awards financial schol-
arships to local graduating seniors. We would
not be able to help all of our great students
without this community. For more information
on our programs or how you can donate please
visit www.ssd6.org under the <about us= tab.
Thanks again, and GO OUTLAWS!
Angela Buller
See LETTERS on page 11
Sisters Weather Forecast
Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Snow Showers
Mostly Cloudy
Rain/Snow
Snow Showers
Snow Showers
Snow
37/29
38/28
44/32
38/30
39/28
35/21
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The Three Wind devel-
opment is right next to a
significant number of The
Pines homes, and four of
the high-density apartment
buildings abut directly
behind these homes, with a
so-called buffer of two-inch
caliper trees which will take
many years to grow into an
actual buffer.
In addition, the parking
allotted for the eight-unit,
12-unit, and three 10-unit
apartment buildings is
wholly insufficient. One
stall per unit is not suffi-
cient. Where are all the extra
cars going to park? In the
open space area? In the busi-
nesses parking lots? Having
this many new residents
of these apartments will
increase noise, car traffic
and, unless these buildings
are one-story, they will look
directly into our homes and
yards and forfeit the privacy
we have enjoyed for many
years.
Realizing the need for
housing in our town, does
it have to be at the expense
of the quality of living we at
The Pines presently enjoy?
The Pines is for 55-and-
older residents and many
enjoy sitting on their decks
in the morning, drinking
coffee and listening to the
birds. At night, a favorite
pastime is to enjoy a bev-
erage while gazing at the
star-and-planet-filled sky.
It seems that the City has
decided to ignore The Pines
completely and jam thou-
sands of feet of commercial
businesses, with their gen-
erators and pumps and gar-
bage collection, and high-
density housing with inad-
equate parking right down
our throats 4 development
that includes a fast-food
establishment with drive-
through service and a Dollar
General that will be open
until 10 p.m.
The increase in noise,
distracting lighting, and
traffic is going to be
astronomical.
Sisters received an award
from WHO as an official
age-friendly city. Sisters is
supposed to value its seniors
and be concerned with their
well-being and quality of
life. Being subjected to
years of noisy, dusty con-
struction, with the result
being permanent noise and
traffic, is marginalizing
seniors and not considering
their quality of life.
And the <traffic study=
that was done recommends
NO traffic calming features
and says that traffic will
be distributed equally to
McKinney Butte and Hood
Avenue, streets that they
say can accommodate the
increased traffic with no
problem.
Well, I bet they didn9t
do the study during peak
school hours, because traffic
currently during this time is
already bumper-to-bumper.
Add this to the explod-
ing tourist traffic at certain
times of the year, and the
result will be a huge traffic
nightmare.
For the residents of The
Pines who currently enjoy
walking to Ray9s, their doc-
tor, PT or gym there is no
crosswalk to cross busy
McKinney Butte unless
they walk an extremely long
way to find a crosswalk. To
go across McKinney Butte
now is an accident waiting
to happen. The increased
traffic from this large Three
Wind development will cre-
ate an impossible situation.
Traffic calming is essential.
The Three Wind bur-
den of proof statement
says that the sections on
Street Tree Maintenance,
Urban Forestry, Activities
Prohibited, and many oth-
ers are purely advisory.
Does that mean they intend
to ignore these City rec-
ommendations which are
included there to enhance
the livability of Sisters and
promote public health and
safety?
Why the City of Sisters
is intent on eliminating
our small-town livability
and become just another
overcrowded, mediocre
town with fast-food estab-
lishments and low-quality
businesses is question-
able. Why throw away the
unique characteristics that
define our town and create
another junky, low-quality
town?
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.