Resorts in spotlight of Deschutes County planning

            As Deschutes County officials tackle redrafting the county’s 1979 comprehensive plan a critical question will be the definition and location of destination resorts.

            With development of the new “2010” comp plan underway, several recent county planning decisions have highlighted conflicts involving the issue of when a resort is a resort, and when it’s mostly a rural subdivision.

            There have been changes over the years to the 1979 plan but this would be the first major revision.

            Entwined in the discussion is the pivotal role of resorts in Central Oregon’s largely tourism based economy, and how to balance their location with existing agriculture, forest and open space lands.

             Oregon resort land use regulations now follow Goal 8 (Recreation) of the state’s 1970s growth management act. In 1984 new provisions allowed resorts on rural lands without being subject to a “goal exception” review. One provision requires a 160-acre minimum for destination resorts, which in effect means that most are built on land originally zoned for agriculture. Another key standard is no net loss of wildlife.

Counties now must  “map” potential resort locations, and since 2003 are permitted to review their resort maps once every 30 months. The mapping process, although independent of redrafting the county comp plan, nevertheless is intended to ultimately reflect its provisions.

For Deschutes County, it appears that map will be shrinking considerably from more than 112,448 acres to 18,815 acres. The reduction involves removal of acreage including subdivisions that the county acknowledges was “unsuitable” for resorts, but not specifically prohibited at that time by state regulations.

However, a notable exception is the Sisters golf subdivision, Aspen Lakes, that was recently mapped as a potential resort. It was a controversial decision that was appealed to the state’s Land Use Board of Appeal, which upheld it in favor of the Cyrus family of Sisters who want to expand Aspen Lakes as a resort.

Elsewhere in Central Oregon there is another twist to permitting resorts. In Jefferson County 2009 state legislation banned one proposed resort and reduced the size another in the Metolius Basin near Camp Sherman. It was the first time Oregon had designated an Area of Critical State Concern  to block development.

Another bill that would have banned new resorts in Deschutes County failed in that legislative session.

A spate of new resorts were underway in the last decade, along with others on the drawing board. The collapse of the real estate market lead some developers to test county and state requirements that at least 50 nightly rental units be completed before individual homesites could be sold.

The resort regulations also require a ratio of one nightly rental unit for each permanent residence.

County officials and conservation groups have voiced concern over recently proposed legislation that would effectively preempt state and county regulations pertaining to rural subdivisions and resorts.

But the flip side, say some observers, is the situation in the Metolius basin wherein legislation stopped resorts that had met the approval of Jefferson County officials, and therefore trumped the county land use process.

            In one example a proposed bill would apply specifically to 1,500 acres adjacent to the existing Aspen Lakes on which the Cyrus family wants to build a resort.  With LUBA’s favorable decision, the bill would likely be superfluous.

However, another legislative bill would apply to the effort of Sunriver Resort’s ownership group to build a subdivision, known initially as Pine Forest,  on more than 600 acres adjoining their Caldera Springs project. The land was purchased in late 2006 from the Forest Service for $7.25 million. The group also has significant ownership of Sunriver Resort and Crosswater, a private gated golf community on the Deschutes River south of Bend.

In exchange for approval of 925 homesites, with no requirement for nightly lodging, the Sunriver group has offered to contribute $3 million toward a waste treatment facility to mitigate existing nitrate problems from septic systems in the area.

As of early March there were five  “Goal 8” approved resorts in Deschutes County under the 1984 regulations, including Eagle Crest, Pronghorn, Tetherow, Caldera Springs and Thornburgh. Earlier approved resorts in the county are Sunriver, Black Butte Ranch and Inn of the 7^th Mountain, which are controlled by other state regulations.



The most recent Deschutes County map of land eligible for resorts.
(Click on map to expand, or click below link for a PDF version)

           Revised Deschutes County Resort Map