Big resorts and golf courses won’t be allowed in the Metolius River Basin under a plan approved Tuesday by the Land Conservation and Development Commission.
For now, it’s only a recommendation that goes to the Legislature which can adopt, change or kill the plan. But it’s an important step in protecting the Metolius Basin from development.
Here’s what it does:
- Declares the basin an Area Of Critical State Concern.
- Prohibits destination resorts and golf courses in the Metolius Basin. Allows for two small resorts that could include as many as 35 units and be up to 25 acres in size.
- Bans destination resorts and golf courses from a buffer zone surrounding the basin. Allows for one small scale resort of no more than 125 units and 320 acres in size.
The Commission says its trying to find a way to balance the interests of protecting the environment and wildlife in the basin, against those of developers who’ve purchased large tracts of forest in the area and were hoping to build destination resorts.
And there’s the issue of taking away local control over the basin. Jefferson County had approved those two destination resorts to create job and improve property tax revenues. The plan encourages the County to consider new resort plans closer to Madras and speeds up the approval process by more than two years.
For a look at the complete plan go here: (Opens a PDF file)
