HomeMy WebLinkAboutDestination Resort Memo
MEMORANDUM
TO: Deschutes County Board of Commissioners
FROM: Peter Gutowsky, Principal Planner
DATE: September 22, 2009
SUBJECT: Senate Environment and Natural Resources Hearing / Destination Resort
Discussion
MEETING: September 28, 2009
Deschutes County has been invited to participate on September 30 at an Interim Legislative
Hearing with the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee (Committee) to
discuss destination resorts. The hearing will take place in Salem from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m.
According to Beth Patrino, a Committee Administrator, Oregon State Senator Jackie Dingfelder
plans to introduce legislation in the 2010 session about the siting of destination resorts. She
chairs the Committee, which is interested at this hearing in learning about destination resorts
from the local perspective. Specifically, they are interested about Deschutes County's current
remapping project, and how legislation may impact this and future efforts to map and site
destination resorts.
Deschutes County’s presentation is limited to just 10 minutes so arrangements are being made
to participate through video conferencing. Given the time constraints, the County is structuring
its testimony around three people, who will emphasize the following:
• A County Commissioner will discuss the importance of local control;
• Nick Lelack, Planning Director will outline the technical aspects of Deschutes County’s
Destination Resort map and the forthcoming map amendment process; and,
• A Resort representative will share opinions on the community benefits derived from
destination resorts.
Deschutes County Destination Resort Remapping Project
The following viewpoints can be shared to the Committee on September 30:
1. Statewide, eight counties have adopted resort mapping and ordinances: Deschutes,
Douglas, Crook, Klamath, Jefferson, Jackson, Josephine, and Tillamook.
2. Deschutes County was one of the first counties to adopt a destination resort map in
1992. Today, there are four Goal 8 destination resorts in the county: Eagle Crest,
Pronghorn, Tetherow and Caldera Springs. Another resort, Thornburg, received
conceptual master plan approval from the county in 2006, however it is currently under
appeal.
3. In 1992, the County supplemented the state’s destination resort criteria by excluding
certain large agricultural and forest parcels, and resource lands within one mile of a
UGB. If a property was not excluded from the map by state or county criteria, it was
automatically designated on Deschutes County’s Destination Resort overlay map.
4. There are 112,448 acres in Deschutes County mapped for destination resorts.
Approximately 85% of mapped lands are unsuitable for resort development because
they are irreversibly committed to platted subdivisions, rural residential development or
small lots.
5. County staff are now proposing new destination resort goals and policies as well as new
procedures that will explain how to add and remove land from its resort map so that it
accurately reflects where resorts can be located. A public hearing is scheduled for
November 19. New ineligibility criteria will target:
* Properties less than 160 acres;
* Areas of Critical State Concern;
* Sites that are inventoried Goal 5 resources the County has chosen to protect;
* Lands zoned Open Space and Conservation (OS&C);
* Lands zoned Forest Use 1 (F-1);
* Certain Irrigated lands;
* Farm or forest land within one mile outside of urban growth boundaries;
* Lands designated Urban Reserve Area under ORS 195.145; and
* Platted subdivisions
6. Legislative amendments to Deschutes County’s Destination Resort map will be initiated
in February. Properties currently mapped that do not meet the new rules will be
proposed for removal. County staff will initiate the “un-mapping” amendments. If
requested by property owners, lands that meet the new rules will be proposed for the
Destination Resort map. Public hearings will be held in Spring 2010, with adoption
anticipated for June 2010. Once adopted, the destination resort map will only include
properties that meet the new rules.