2006-387P-Minutes for Meeting December 20,2005 Recorded 4/7/2006a ~
Deschutes County Board of Commissioners
1300 NW Wall Street, Bend, OR 97701
Testimony of :
Sandy Lonsdale
P.O. Box 5506, 64925 McGrath Road
Bend, OR 97708
RE: Board Order 2005-143
CU-05-20
Dear County Commissioners:
December 19, 2005
I have previously provided written and oral testimony before the Deschutes County Hearings
Officer regarding the Thornburgh Destination Resort (DR) proposal for the land on and near
Cline Buttes here in Deschutes County. Tonight I reference those comments and have new
material to bring to your attention regarding this proposal.
As a resident of the Tumalo area for 30 years, as a professional photographer, and as a
volunteer conservation leader and activist, I have recreated on and worked to protect and
enhance the public BLM and Forest Service lands in and around Central Oregon, and
particularly these lands in the urban interface near Cline Buttes. I believe it is important for
citizens to be involved in their government at all levels in order to help ensure good
government and enduring livability.
I would like to introduce a piece of evidence I brought to illustrate my point today, it is a
photograph of the south flank of Cline Buttes at night showing what I believe is a county
code violation of the Deschutes County lighting ordinance (DCC 15.10). As you can see
from this photo of the former Harry Kem property, Tax Lot #7800, now proposed by the DR
applicant, this area is very lightly populated, is surrounded by public BLM land, is heavily
treed, and is slightly elevated from the surrounding land, allowing light and noise pollution to
carry a long way. Imagine another five to ten thousand lights here in a few years, imagine
the thousands of people and homes and cars and noise here, into this relatively wild and
reasonably intact wildlife habitat. Now imagine it with 48% fewer trees, as the Thornburgh
applicants have said they will remove that amount of the old juniper tree cover if their
proposal is approved.; More light and noise and visual impact to surrounding landowners and
to adjacent public lands, decreasing their values for other users.
According to current Deschutes County Code (DCC 18.113), new development must not
negatively affect neighboring property values:
18.113.050. Requirements for conditional use permit and conceptual master plan applications
The CMP provides the framework for development of the destination resort
and is intended to ensure that the destination resort meets the
Exliibit__-T
Page 1 of ~P
requirements of DCC 18.113. The CMP application shall
include the
following information:
B. 4. Design guidelines and development standards defining
visual and
aesthetic parameters for:
a. Building
character;
b. Landscape
character;
c.Preservation of existing topography and
vegetation;
d. Siting of buildings;
and
e. Proposed standards for minimum lot area, width, frontage,
lot coverage,
setbacks and building
heights.
9. An explanation of how the destination resort has been sited
or designed
to avoid or minimize adverse effects or conflicts on adjacent
lands. The
application shall identify the surrounding uses and potential conflicts
between the destination resort and adjacent uses within 660
feet of the
boundaries of the parcel or parcels upon which the resort
is to be
developed. The application shall explain how any proposed
buffer area
will avoid or minimize adverse effects or
conflicts;
18.113.070. Approval
criteria.
In order to approve a destination resort, the Planning
Director or
Hearings Body shall find from substantial evidence in the
record that:
N. Site improvements will be located and designed to avoid
or minimize
adverse effects of the resort on the surrounding land uses.
Measures to
accomplish this may include establishment and maintenance
of buffers
between the resort and adjacent land uses, including natural vegetation
and appropriate fences, berms, landscaped areas and similar types of
buffers; and setback of structures and other developments from adjacent
land
uses.
P. The destination resort will not alter the character of the
surrounding
area in a manner that substantially limits, impairs or prevents permitted
or conditional uses of surrounding properties.
The Thornburgh application states the resort will comply with Deschutes County outdoor
lighting code, but how can we be sure if there is no code enforcement Why don't they
simply adopt the dark skies principles in their application and agree to :
1)no upright street lights; ground-level lighting only in commercial areas as
needed
2) the rule on all lighting including private lots: keep all light within the
boundaries of the lot ("fully shielded")
3) include "porch lights" in list of lighting covered by ordinance.
Additionally, Thornburgh has not proposed any means to limit visual impacts from power
lines or communication towers. The burden of proof in land use matters should and must be
high since we all have to live with the consequences of these decisions for many years to
come. So in keeping with Thornburgh's stated "Vision" (p.1 B-24) "The Thornburgh
Resort will be a hidden retreat... the natural beauty of the rural setting will be preserved by
maintaining large areas of the natural environment... "
Exhibit N'
Page _ of Cp
It is important that we now introduce language that will protect our community from visual
blights and language that will preserve the visual integrity of our buttes and skylines. I
therefore propose the following language be included in Thornburgh's CCRs and in their
Architectural Guidelines: All communication, power, cellular, microwave and radio towers
or antennae shall be disguised as vegetation so as to be unnoticeable to the surrounding area.
Thank you very much for this opportunity to provide comment on this proposal.
Sincerely,
51D~ lrkl~
Sandy H. Lonsdale
Exhibit
Page _ of Ca
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