Land Conservation

A plan to ban destination resorts in the Metolius River Basin took a small but important step forward Friday.

It happened when the Land Conservation and Development Commission decided that the Metolius Basin should be declared an Area Of Critical State Concern. That’s supposed to protect the Metolius from development. But the Commission isn’t quite yet finished the details of the plan. Some important issues are still being worked out.

For example, the Commission is trying to figure out the exact boundaries of the area, and what all this means for two proposed destination resorts. One of them, The Metolian, would be an eco-style resort near Suttle Lake. The other, called the Ponderosa, is a more traditional resort with a golf course. It would be located on about 10,000 acres that straddle the border of the Metolius Basin.

An earlier draft written by Commission staff would stop these resorts from being built.

A hint of where this plan may be headed can be found in the press release. It describes the Metolius as “unique” with “outstanding values” and that “those values are threatened by current and future plans for large-scale development.”

But we won’t know for sure until the Commission is done working on the plan. That could take a week to ten days. Then it’s forwarded to the Oregon Legislature which makes the final decision on the future of the Metolius.

A draft plan to protect the Metolius River Basin in Central Oregon has just been released.

Some of the features will look familiar.  It declares the Basin a State Area of Critical State Concern and wrestles away any local control over large scale development in the area.  The idea was proposed by Governor Kulongoski in December.

Following two public hearings in Sisters and Madras, the department of Land Conservation and Development has drafted a plan to serve as a model for legislation.

It includes:

• Banning all large scale resort development in the Metolius Basin.
• Creates a buffer area around the basin where development will be “substantially limited”.
• Sets aside areas where Jefferson County can proceed with the development of resorts.  This includes the vicinity of Round Butte, near the City of Madras and Cove Palisades State Park.   Other areas may be added.
• Allows private property owners, who were planning to build resorts, the option of building small projects allowed under Measure 49.  They could also swap their land inside the basin for land near Round Butte, which could be developed as resorts.

The department is holding one more public hearing on the plan tomorrow in Madras starting at 5pm.  It’ll be at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in the Maccie Conroy Room.

The full commission will meet on March 11 to take action on the plan, and possibly make a recommendation to the 2009 Legislature