Wednesday, July 15, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
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Inspiring community
members to get involved
Adapting to provide musical magic…
By Janel Ruehl
Guest Columnist
PHOTO BY JERRY BALDOCK
Melanie Rose Dyer and Daniel Cooper played for neighbors in their Tollgate Village — with plenty of
room to spread out and maintain physical distancing.
Letters to the Editor…
The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer9s name, address and
phone number. Letters 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 Unpublished items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.
Clarification
In The Nugget9s July 8 editorial <Wear
your mask,= the daily death toll from coro-
navirus was cited as totaling about 1,000 for
all age groups. It is more accurate to state
that 4 allowing for a couple of spikes well
above 1,000 4 the daily number has hovered
between 500 and 1,000 through most of June
and into July (down from peaking at 4,900 in
a single day on April 16).
That positive trend may be shifting as there
has been an uptick in deaths in recent days as
a lagging indicator in a significant surge in
cases in many states.
s
s
s
To the Editor:
I just read of the future workforce housing
planned for the Forest Service property.
This is excellent news for the City of
Sisters, for the future Sisters9 employers and
their workforce and for Downtown Sisters. I
have long felt that workforce housing was the
very best use for most of that section of the
Forest Service property. Its location is perfect
for residents to walk or bike to work, to gro-
cery shopping and to downtown events, activ-
ities, dining, socializing and shopping.
The news comes with the additional bonus
of the investment by Laird Superfoods CEO.
This speaks to the long-term and strong com-
mitment of one of Sisters9 most promising and
high-profile employers to the city and to the
workforce they foresee needing as they grow.
The City will eventually realize a huge
See LETTERS on page 23
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In 2018, hundreds of
Sisters Country residents
weighed in on a shared vision
for our future. Through sur-
veys, community meetings,
and town hall forums, com-
munity members suggested
dozens of strategies to sup-
port a more Prosperous,
Livable, Resilient, and
Connected Sisters Country.
With the help of a com-
mittee comprised of 31 com-
munity members, the Vision
Action Team, and led by
local consultants those strat-
egies were turned into a plan,
called Sisters Country Vision
Action Plan. Since comple-
tion of this plan, a group
of organizations, commu-
nity teams, and local agen-
cies have diligently worked
to bring those strategies to
life. In July 2019, represen-
tatives from those organi-
zations formed the Vision
Implementation Team (VIT)
to help provide oversight and
coordinate projects to imple-
ment the new vision. As the
VIT wraps up their first year
working together, they9ve
paused to reflect on what
has been accomplished over
the past 12 months, creat-
ing their first Annual Action
Plan Update now available at
www.sistersvision.org.
Progress has been made
on all 20 strategies included
in the original action plan in
the past year. Strategies that
saw the most progress in the
past 12 months include:
" Prosperous Sisters:
Development of the U.S.
Forest Service (USFS)
Property.
" Livable Sisters:
Improved Trail System.
" Resilient Sisters:
Wildfire and Disaster
Preparedness.
" Connected Sisters:
Multi-purpose Community
Center.
Development of the large
parcel of land long owned by
the USFS happened fast after
many years of uncertainty.
The City of Sisters, EDCO,
USFS and other stakeholders
met with private develop-
ers in early 2019, resulting
in the largest portion of the
property entering escrow
in late 2019. To support
the sale, the City of Sisters
updated their Buildable
Lands Inventory and com-
pleted a Housing Needs
Assessment. Meanwhile,
USFS was debating options
for the location of their new
Ranger Station, even con-
sidering moving out of the
area. Instead, they decided
to use proceeds from the sale
of the main parcel to retain
the smaller, north parcel of
the property and build a new
station onsite! Finally, the
City of Sisters and ODOT
are currently working on a
multi-stakeholder agreement
to purchase the remaining
<east portal= with the goal
of developing a community
gathering space.
Sisters Country9s recre-
ation trail system also saw
major improvements in the
past year. USFS partnered
with Discover Your Forest to
establish the Deschutes Trail
Coalition (DTC). To help
identify new areas for poten-
tial trail development, DTC
is in the process of creating a
new spatial siting tool. Once
sited, new trail development
may get a boost in funding
from a Deschutes County
grant proposal to the State of
Oregon, currently pending.
The County is also
preparing to update their
Transportation System Plan,
which will provide opportu-
nities for community input
on a multi-use, regional
trail system. Existing trails
got a facelift this year when
USFS, in partnership with
the Sisters Trails Alliance,
replaced the bridge over
Indian Ford Creek on Sisters
Tie Trail, authorized con-
struction of three new con-
nectors to the Peterson Ridge
Trail, and finished construc-
tion of a state-of-the-art gate-
way trailhead to the Peterson
Ridge Trail System.
Sisters
School
District, Sisters Park &
Recreation District, and
Citizens4Community
worked together to make
progress on the long-term
goal of developing a multi-
purpose community cen-
ter. C4C facilitated a series
of meetings with poten-
tial user groups 4 from
the Pickleball Club to the
Chamber of Commerce.
Together, these groups dis-
cussed their desired uses,
and how to develop a versa-
tile space. The group is now
exploring options for funding
a feasibility study next year.
The Vision Action Plan
Update includes a number of
new <action items= this year,
as community groups and
organizations have found
creative ways to contrib-
ute to the 20 strategies. The
VIT hopes more community
members will feel inspired to
get involved next year, and is
looking forward to planning
a community celebration this
fall (depending on COVID
outcomes). The celebra-
tion is a chance to recognize
those groups and individuals
who have been true <vision
champions= over the past
12 months and to share the
Vision, progress to date, and
goals for the next year with
the entire Sisters Country
community.
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.