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2006-387T-Minutes for Meeting December 20,2005 Recorded 4/7/2006December 20, 2005 TO: Deschutes County Board of Commissioners -JU W t FR: Martin & Carolyn Winch Vb 19300 Innes Market Road Bend, OR 97701 RE: CU-05-20 (Applicant: Thornburgh Resort Company, LLC) We live on irrigated EFU land two miles southwest of the proposed resort. We have owned this land since 1965, and built our house in 1973. The proposed Thornburgh development is large in scale, and will have significant impact on the rural lands and roads in our area and for a considerable distance. Cline Buttes are an important and prominent natural feature where the development will have significant visual impact. The property rights of the developers are not greater than the property rights of the many land owners and citizens whose use and enjoyment of our rural land and roads will be adversely affected by this development. The Tumalo - Cline Falls area has largely retained a rural character, with the exception of Eagle Crest resort. The Thornburgh resort adjacent to Eagle Crest will create a large concentration of intensive development with significant adverse effects on the character and rural land uses of the surrounding area. These are in effect rural subdivisions, contrary to 18.113.010(E). Visibility. Thornburgh will be located at a higher elevation than most of the surrounding land for miles around. It will not be hidden in the junipers. The angle of visibility will generally be from below the development. The lights, road cuts, and structures of Thornburgh will be visible for a considerable distance. Road cuts and structures on the slopes of the Buttes will be highly visible. Thornburgh's visibility will degrade the rural character of the area, and must be minimized in every possible way. Without regulation, the volume of new lighting will light up that portion of the dark night sky in this rural area, damaging one of the features that makes our lands so valuable to us. The County should require as conditions of approval and for inclusion in the CC&Rs: • The great prominence of Cline Buttes requires stringent measures to protect and maintain its natural features on the landscape. • No street lights nor outdoor area lighting on roads nor in commercial areas. • Lighting on private lots, including "porch lights", must be fully shielded and kept within lot boundaries. • Lighting regulations no less stringent than those in International Dark Sky Association model ordinance, as the Thornburgh representative promised at the first hearing. • Provide for enforcement of these enhanced lighting regulations by County Code Enforcement. • Minimize visibility of all road cuts by minimizing width, by requirements relating to their location, design and construction, and by adequate mitigation measures. • Minimize visibility of all structures by requirements relating to their location, design and construction, and by adequate mitigation measures. • 18.113.050(B)(1), 18.113.070(N), (P), 18.113.075. Exhibit Page of 2. (CU-05-20, Winch, page 2 of 2) 2. Roads and traffic. Thornburgh will significantly increase traffic on all roads in the vicinity, especially Cline Falls Highway, Gerking Market Road, Innes Market Road, and at the intersections of these three roads with US 20/22. These roads and intersections are not capable of handling this increase without significant improvements. The County should: • Allow no access to Barr Road from Thornburgh. • Require Thornburgh to pay its true share of required public infrastructure improvements. • Require design, engineering and bonding of road improvements before approval, and construction before occupancy. • Include bike lanes with Cline Falls Road improvements. Land Use BLM / Environment / Recreation. Thornburgh will have a large effect in itself. Its effect will be compounded by its location adjacent to the Eagle Crest development. Most of this development is adjacent to and surrounded by BLM lands. BLM recently completed an in-depth public planning process for these lands. It designates them being suitable for dispersed recreation and wildlife habitat. Use of these public lands is already high and will be greatly intensified by the proposed development. The County should: • Strictly enforce the requirements that make destination resorts different from rural subdivisions. • Incorporate the provisions requested by BLM in its comments on Thornburgh. • Require that public trails connect public lands across the development. • Require public access to trailheads. • Require the developer and homeowners to compensate the public for the increased level of use of the adjacent public land by means of annual assessments paid into a mitigation fund. 4. Interim Measures. Construction of this development will cover an extended period of time, construction activity, and increased traffic. Further, there are indications that this developer may undertake the work, including the conditions required by public agencies, and be unable to complete it. The public should be protected from excessive burden and risk during this interim period. The County should: • Impose appropriate conditions relating to the impacts of construction on visibility, traffic, noise, and the like. • Require bonding in an amount sufficient to cover the cost of fulfilling the required conditions that accompany approval of the development. 18.113.010(D) 5. Water. The development proposes to consume such a large volume of water that there is a legitimate question whether the supply of water, and the reasonable availability of mitigation credits, is sufficient for the rapidly growing needs of Redmond, Bend and the many existing private wells. The County is the closest unit of government that can coordinate demands upon water supply in the Upper Basin. It is not reasonable and prudent under these circumstances to approve three or four new golf courses, and artificial lakes and water features in a desert landscape, in one new destination resort. The County should: • Continue to deny approval for lack of water rights. • Require Thornburgh to pay the cost of deepening private wells in the area that drop in apparent relation to water being pumped by Thornburgh. • Require significant reduction in water consumption by Thornburgh. Exhibit T Page _2 of ?i