How will Sisters grow?

The City of Sisters will host an open house on its Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) Expansion process on Monday, December 9, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the new Sisters Elementary School. City staff is inviting the public to come learn more about the future of the community and make their voices heard.

All are invited to the open house: Sisters residents, as well as those living in Sisters Country and beyond.

Attendees will learn more about progress made so far on the UGB expansion project — including on how much land is needed to address needed housing, businesses, parks, roads, and other elements of the community to keep up with the projected population growth over the next 20 years; the boundary of the study area; and which lands are higher priority for expansion than others, according to state rules.

Participants also will have the opportunity to view maps of possible concepts for the UGB expansion — as well as have opportunity to provide the city with your thoughts on them — feedback which will be used to ultimately inform the preferred UGB expansion area. The meeting will start at 6 p.m. with a half hour of informal viewing of project boards and opportunity to interact with city staff and consultants until 6:30 p.m., when project team members will provide a formal presentation and Q&A session between 6:30 to 7 p.m. This will be followed by 50 minutes of facilitated small group discussion where open house participants will break up into small groups and discuss what values are important to them in considering the future UGB expansion and how the community should plan and prepare for new growth areas.

The last 10 minutes until 8 p.m. will be a report by the City.

“A lot of work has already occurred with this project and thanks to the community, a lot of great input has already been provided. But we intend this open house to be an opportunity for those that maybe haven’t had a chance to learn more to come tell us how they feel about anticipated growth and where it should be located and what factors we should be considering when contemplating this expansion,” said Scott Woodford, community development director for the City of Sisters. “UGB expansions are a requirement of Oregon State Law to ensure adequate room for cities to grow, at the same time protecting farm and forest land. But beyond that, there is plenty of opportunity for residents to help shape Sisters’ future growth.”

To help make this event family friendly and accessible, free drop-in childcare for kids age 4 and up will be offered during the event, on a first-come-first-served basis in the Sisters Elementary School gymnasium immediately adjacent to the school cafeteria where the open house will be held. Childcare will be provided by Starshine, LLC (www.starshine-theater.com), a local business offering a variety of youth camps and programming.

There will be limited availability for childcare for kids up to 3 years of age, so the City requests families contact the city about this option in advance (see contact info below) so additional caregivers can be made available. Refreshments will also be available at the open house.

If the December 9 open house date and time doesn’t work for people, the city is also offering an online version of the open house, available on the City of Sisters website starting December 9. The online open house, as well as additional information on the UGB expansion project can be found at http://www.ci.sisters.or.us (look for the UGB Amendment icon at the bottom of the website). For more information, contact Scott Woodford at 541-323-5211 or swoodford@ci.sisters.or.us.