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Wednesday, July 29, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
O
P
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N I
O
N
The late great
city of Sisters
By Gary Leiser
Guest Colulmnist
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 Unpublished items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.
To the Editor:
A few years ago there was an excellent
article in The Nugget about our noxious toxic
knapweed invading Sisters. I see currently
knapweed has totally invaded the corner
property near the Lodge & Post Office. It is
now blooming and can release up to 25,000
seeds per plant, covering Sisters. The plant
makes soil toxic to native plants plus it can
be toxic to horses. It is difficult to eliminate.
All the blooming Sisters knapweed needs
to be removed now before seeds are released.
Please write another informative article.
Thank you.
Sharon Sharpnack
s
s
s
The last several years the cold weather
shelter has received broad community sup-
port in the form of volunteers, meals for
shelter guests and donations. I am hoping
the community will continue to support the
shelter in coming up with and facilitating
options to help house our houseless commu-
nity members, many of whom work in local
Sisters businesses.
Last season, we just had a handful of local
shelter guests so I don9t feel the situation
before us is insurmountable. I feel our cre-
ativity and compassion will prevail. I9m just
not sure what that looks like.
Lois Kaping
Wellhouse Church Cold Weather Shelter
Liaison
To the Editor:
Thank you for the article in last week9s
paper, <Cold weather shelter a victim of pan-
demic,= (The Nugget, July 22, p. 1).
s
s
s
See LETTERS on page 14
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It is breathtaking to
watch the Sisters City
Council try to obliterate
Sisters as fast as it can.
Has the Council ever
seen a plan for urban sprawl
that it didn9t like? True, it
usually requires <fixes= to
these plans, but they are
cosmetic, a kind of slight-
of-hand to help ratify the
fiction that the Council is
acting in the interest of the
City, while actually abetting
its suicide.
What is the rationale
behind the City9s actions? It
seems to be twofold. First,
as reported in The Nugget,
July 24, 2019, the City pro-
duced a housing strategies
report which claimed the
City had a potential deficit
of land zoned for residen-
tial use inside the Urban
Growth Boundary.
This claim, based on no
empirical evidence, was
a guess. In other words,
the city paraded a portent-
ously documented report
of little value to support a
foregone conclusion which
was a fantasy. It went on
to say that this presumed
deficit could be addressed
by rezoning land, includ-
ing the USFS land within
the city on the assumption it
would be used for housing.
In short, this would allow
the City to solve a problem
that it didn9t have.
Then the report stated,
<If codes are adopted that
would increase density,
the question arises as to
whether that increase will
fundamentally change the
character that attracts peo-
ple to visit and live here.=
The
answer
is
self-evident.
Second, when pressed
for ignoring concerns about
rampant sprawl, the City
claims its hands are tied,
that State law requires it to
approve development if it
meets zoning requirements,
and that the City cannot be
selective. On March 11,
2020, however, the same
newspaper published an
article by the Sisters city
manager and principal
planner in which they said,
<State law requires devel-
opment to be concentrated
in a defined boundary in
order to preserve natural
resources, working farm
and forest land.= And they
asserted, <the city9s devel-
opment codes and zoning
can be changed through a
standalone process with
state noticing, outside
of review of a specific
application.=
This is incoherent. Can
the City change the zoning
within its urban boundary or
not? If it can, then why not
limit rampant development?
Now, add to this con-
fusion Laird industries.
In 2016 the City and
Deschutes County helped
bring Laird to town by giv-
ing it, respectively, $51,000
and $50,000 as forgivable
loans (gifts). Subsequently,
Laird obtained $32 mil-
lion in private investment
to expand production. It
also received $10 million
from the French food giant
Danon, (see Vegan Buzz
April 28, 2020). On June 10,
2020, The Nugget reported
that the CEO of Laird had
purchased 31 acres along
Pine Street and Highway
20, formerly USFS land, on
which he intended to build
250 to 300 houses.
Indeed, he acted as if the
City had already approved
his plans.
In an unblushing exer-
cise in self-promotion Laird
has touted the benefits
that it will bring to Sisters.
Above all, it projects hav-
ing 500 employees by 2023.
This projection is used to
justify the aforesaid hous-
ing, although these workers
could not afford it.
Let us not forget that
Laird is here to make
money, not to help Sisters.
Nevertheless, Laird9s spe-
cial pleading 4 <Our goal
is to create jobs that will
help balance the econ-
omy of Sisters= 4 has
been swallowed by Mayor
Chuck Ryan, who stated
(The Nugget, December 19,
2019,), <It is such a great
fit given its low impact
environmentally.=
He added that it was
needed for reaching the
goal of creating <a vibrant
and diverse local economy.=
How can a major industrial
plant requiring 250-300
houses have a low environ-
mental impact? How did the
Mayor conjure up the need
for a diverse economy?
Sisters already has a mixed
economy. The Mayor was
simply parroting Laird.
Has Sisters9 fate been
sealed?
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.