City seeks bids on UGB planning

The City of Sisters is getting work underway to figure out how to accommodate future growth.

The City has put out a request for proposal (RFP) seeking a professional consulting firm with experience in Oregon comprehensive land use planning to coordinate and lead the City’s proposed Urban Growth Boundary Amendment (UGB Amendment).

Population projections from Portland State University say that the population inside the city limits will hit 7,108 in 2043 - more than double the current population of 3,475. Sisters currently does not have room to accommodate that kind of population. Sisters Community Development Director Scott Woodford told The Nugget last November that the State of Oregon requires action from cities to accommodate future growth.

“Typically, that is extension of the UGB,” Woodford said.

Woodford says the City would need to bring in 206 to 256 acres to accommodate need for housing and commercial lands.

The land-use system is designed to contain urban sprawl — but the State wants to see housing built to alleviate a crisis in affordability across the state.

A long-standing City of Sisters ordinance requires a vote of the citizens in order to annex any development into the City. However, the State passed a statute in 2015 that essentially overrides such local requirements, and means the City must approve an annexation as long as it conforms to land use requirements.

The project scope and objective for the RFP is for a land use planning consultant to assist the City in preparing and managing, in coordination with City staff, an application for the UGB amendment, including all appropriate amendments to City’s Comprehensive Plan, for consideration by City and Deschutes County and ultimately acknowledgment by the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development. It is anticipated that the project should be finally complete by December 31, 2025.

All correspondence regarding the RFP must be submitted in writing to Scott Woodford, community development director, at [email protected].