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Court turns down local residents' appeal
By Jim Cornelius

The fight over the proposed industrial development of two 30-acre parcels at the north end of Sisters may be over.

The Oregon Court of Appeals on Thursday, January 24, affirmed a decision that would allow the development to go forward once Deschutes County establishes findings that transportation issues will be adequately taken care of by the developers.

Trapper Point residents have fought the development of Barclay Meadows Business Park and the Lundgren Mill property owned by the Sisters School District. They fear that light industrial development will spoil views and degrade their property values.

The appeals court decision to affirm a Land Use Board of Appeals decision favorable to the developers probably marks the end of the fight for the residents. An appeal to the Oregon Supreme Court would probably not get far.

"According to our attorneys, there's no way the Supreme Court would even take this," said Barclay Meadows representative Peter Storton.

Trapper Point resident Denny Ebner, who was an appellant in the case, said he had been told all along that it is difficult to get a higher court to overturn a lower court's decision.

"Obviously I'm disappointed, but (it's) not entirely unexpected," Ebner said.

The school district won "a pretty resounding victory," said school superintendent Steve Swisher.

That victory clears the way for industrial zoning and the eventual sale of the property.

"To have this decision makes that land a lot more valuable, probably twice what it was unzoned," Swisher said.

That value has been estimated at about $1.5 million, depending on how the land is parceled out.

The school district borrowed $800,000 against the value of the Lundgren Mill property to finance extensive repairs to the current high school.

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