Rural Crook County residents have banded together to halt new destination resorts from locating in the Central Oregon county, fearing they are losing their grip on their once rural way of life.
The residents recently submitted signatures to county election officials to place a measure on the May 20 primary ballot that would pressure county planners to slap a moratorium on resorts.
With three high-end resorts in the planning stages within an 8-mile radius of Powell Butte and one already in operation, the residents had no problem gathering more than enough signatures from the largely rural voting base in this high-desert county.
They needed 502 signatures to qualify for the ballot and they submitted 730.
The three resorts proposed to be built in coming years contain more than 4,000 units combined, about double the population of unincorporated Powell Butte.
"By putting three resorts all within 8 miles of one another in Powell Butte, that doesn't seem balanced," said local rancher Mollie Eder. "Me and my ranching neighbors think the incredible amount of traffic this is going to add to the area is not going to be a good thing for ranching."
The measure voters will consider in May would advise county officials to remove the county's resort overlay map from its comprehensive plan - essentially halting planners from approving any new resorts until the county could develop a new map - a process that could take years and would include multiple opportunities for citizens to voice concerns.
Eder said the county's current overlay map gained approval before she and other citizens knew of its potential impacts on their way of life.
"What would be different this time is we're all aware now of the consequences of having a map," she said. "We do not feel there was adequate public input before."
The three resorts already in the works would not be affected by the measure.
Crook County is one of eight Oregon counties that have adopted destination resort overlay maps - maps that essentially create a zone outside urban growth boundaries where resorts are allowed.
In the 1980s, when the state's Land Conservation and Development Commission approved the zoning, it was expected few would be built in any one area. Only three resorts at that time were operating outside urban growth boundaries in Oregon: Salishan on the Oregon Coast and Black Butte and SunRiver in Central Oregon.
In the past decade, however, nearly a dozen destination resorts, mostly in Central Oregon, have been built or are in the planning stage, including the three around Powell Butte.
According to a recent Department of Land Conservation and Development report, the proliferation of resorts in Central Oregon "has created concerns that there is increasing tension among citizens, local governments, state agencies, conservation groups and other interests regarding destination resort impacts."
The report adds that contrary to the original intent of the law, people are using resorts as homes.
What has happened, according to the report, is "many resorts have taken on characteristics of large planned developments with a large component of permanent housing that would be better provided for in (urban growth boundries)."
The report calls for the LCDC to consider studying and revising land-use laws regulating destination resorts.
The Eders and other rural residents of Crook County, aren't waiting for the state to revise its laws.
Raised in and around Portland, the Eders left Oregon's largest city under the premise they could work a ranch in Central Oregon for years to come without the infringement of development.
"When we moved here, we were assured everything was 80-acre minimum lot sizes and nothing would change," Mollie Eder said.
"Now there is a growing feeling here that maybe development is getting out of control and unbalanced," she said.
Staff writer Mitch Lies is based in Salem. E-mail: [email protected].Capital Press
