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Wednesday, March 11, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
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Grappling with
growth in Sisters
»Pajama Party9
By Cory Misley Sisters City Manager
Nicole Mardell Principal Planner
The Sisters Elementary School kindergarten staged a performance of “Pajama Party”
last week in the school gym. The young actors enjoyed their time on stage.
PHOTO BY JERRY BALDOCK
Letters to the Editor…
The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer9s name, address and phone number. Let-
ters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not necessarily shared by the Editor.
The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters submitted to the Editor. Letters should be no
longer than 300 words. Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned. The deadline for all letters is 10 a.m. Monday.
To the Editor:
Last night, Monday, March 2, I came home
from the movies to find my daughter upset.
It seems like through a Facebook post she
found out my dog was missing. It turned out
alright, someone down the street found her and
brought her home.
Now the rest of the story: It seems the gate
in the corner facing St. Helens was open and
neither of us had opened it. Noel didn9t have a
collar or tags on when she was brought home.
I found the collar the next morning about 40
feet from the open gate, unhooked. There was
no way she could have got it open or off by
herself.
I have been a responsible pet-owner, my
dogs go to the vet on a regular basis and I had
a fence built to keep them out of the street.
They have a doggie door to get in and out and
the yard is theirs. Both my dogs run out and
mostly greet everyone who walks past.
My greatest fear is someone opened the
gate and took her. Did she get away from you
when you stopped to take off her collar? It
was right in the driveway behind my car. Did
you think she was just so cute you had to have
her? Did you think you could love her more
than I do? She was my Christmas present in
2017 to replace a dog that I had for over 18
years. I got her through potty training and
broke her of shoe-chewing and dragging any
article of clothing she found out the doggy
door and into the yard. She has been my com-
panion and best friend for over 2 years, and
if I had not got her back this would be such a
different letter.
So, if the one who tried to take her reads
this, know she is chipped, and the vet knows
her. And also know that I am putting locks on
my gates to keep her safe. A six-foot chain
length fence should have discouraged you;
it didn9t, but locks on all the gates should. It
really bothers me that I should have to do that
in Sisters to keep her safe. But I will. She is
part of my family.
Shirley Miller
Sisters Weather Forecast
Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Partly Cloudy
Sunny
PM Showers
Snow Showers
Snow Showers
Partly Cloudy
57/27
55/29
54/24
34/14
31/14
38/17
The Nugget Newspaper, LLC
Website: www.nuggetnews.com
442 E. Main Ave., P.O. Box 698, Sisters, Oregon 97759
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Owner: J. Louis Mullen
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Land-use planning in the
U.S. began in the late 1800s
at the intersection of three
vocations: public health,
architecture, and social
work, as all three groups had
concerns about the arrange-
ment of cities and the poten-
tial impacts of their growth.
In weighing all of these
interests, the process of
land-use planning was cre-
ated to ensure thought-
ful, orderly, and consistent
review of construction proj-
ects. Zoning was estab-
lished for public health and
quality of life purposes, to
separate industrial parks
from residential areas, and
to ensure an adequate mix
of uses 4 homes, commer-
cial services and retail, park
space, and economic devel-
opment land were all bal-
anced. Development codes
containing requirements for
materials, building layout,
and spacing were put into
place to ensure a standard
for development was set.
The public hearing process
was created so members of
the public could verify that
these standards were being
met and properly applied.
Planning has evolved
immensely since that
time. In 1973, the Oregon
Legislature passed Senate
Bill No. 100, requiring all
cities and counties in Oregon
to participate in a state-wide
land-use system with spe-
cific goals and policies. One
of the most notable require-
ments of this program is to
concentrate development
into cities with a defined
boundary in which growth
can occur, so that rural lands
containing significant natu-
ral resources and working
farm and forest land can
be preserved. This drew a
legal line in the sand around
cities, prohibiting urban
sprawl with state oversight.
One consequence of this
program is the pressure on
cities of all sizes to grow.
In Sisters there are two
arenas in which land-use
planning exists. The first is
application review (i.e. the
recent Three Winds Master
Plan), a responsive process
at the intersection between
individual property rights,
for an owner to be able to
reasonably develop land
that they own, and the legal
guidelines that the City has
adopted in its development
code. When an application is
submitted, the codes that are
in place cannot be changed.
This is known as the <Goal
Post Rule,= and ensures
applicants have clear and
objective standards to meet
to entitle their land for con-
struction. The second is
through development code
and plan amendments.
The City9s develop-
ment codes and zoning
can be changed through a
standalone process with
state noticing, outside of
review of a specific appli-
cation. Wording changes
are often initiated to fix
issue areas (such as height
limits or parking require-
ments), address changing
conditions, or new topics.
These code changes cannot
target specific construc-
tion sites, but rather must
have citywide impacts and
meet statewide goals and
policies.
There are two big ways
that you can meaningfully
participate in this process.
You can provide input in the
application review realm
on the details of a specific
development project by ask-
ing for higher-quality mate-
rials, building orientation
to limit disruption to exist-
ing properties, additional
landscaping and open-space
areas, among other things.
Although approval is based
on code requirements, these
<asks= are appropriate.
If you9re interested in
a holistic review of the
development code and poli-
cies surrounding land use
and their applications, you
can also participate in the
upcoming Comprehensive
Plan amendment process.
The plan guides the City9s
overall vision for develop-
ment and growth for the
next 20 years. This plan will
also inform future updates
to the code and development
standards.
It is up to us as a com-
munity to be receptive to
development where the code
allows, while also providing
meaningful input to ensure
the high standard of qual-
ity and character continues
in our built environment. If
you have any questions or
want to talk through any ele-
ments of planning and land
use, don9t hesitate to reach
out. Call 541-549-6022.
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.