Neither side thrilled as Skyline bill advances

Bend Bulletin article reports on Skyline Forest legislation.

SALEM — A state House committee on Tuesday approved legislation letting a corporate landowner build 197 dwellings in a portion of Skyline Forest near Bend if the company agrees to sell about 45,000 acres, including most of Skyline, to a land trust.

By a 6-1 vote, the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee approved the idea as part of broader legislation, House Bill 2228, that could also affect the battle over a proposed destination resort ban in the Metolius River Basin.

The part of the bill affecting the Skyline Forest, on Bend’s western edge, was proposed by the group Central Oregon Landwatch.

Under the bill, if the landowner, Fidelity National Timber Resources Inc., wants to build 197 homes, it must sell the vast majority of the Skyline parcel — as well as another 14,000 acres in southern Deschutes County — to a land trust to preserve as a community-owned forest. The community forest would allow environmentally sensitive logging and recreation.

The Skyline land, also known as the Bull Springs Tree Farm, stretches from a few miles west of Bend northwest to a few miles south of Sisters. Visible from Bend, the forest is the expanse of greenery beneath the Three Sisters peaks.

The forest had been owned by forest products giant Crown Pacific, then by a holding company set up by the company’s creditors after it declared bankruptcy.

In 2007, the current landowner proposed trading 28,000 acres for the state’s permission to build 1,000 homes on 5,000 acres. But the deal fell through late last year due to financial uncertainties.

On Tuesday, Rep. Judy Stiegler, D-Bend, testified in favor of the bill, noting that she had spoken with the landowner, as well as Central Oregon Landwatch, and had encouraged committee Chairman Rep. Brian Clem, D-Salem, to pursue the idea.

“I was trying to achieve the bottom line, which was take what had essentially become a failed situation … and try to bring it to a point of compromise,” she said. “I see it as a balanced approach to the process.”

As proof of the bill’s balance, she cited the fact that “both sides” had concerns with the bill. And indeed, Fidelity expressed concerns as did environmentalists and Rep. Gene Whisnant, R-Sunriver

Whisnant urged the committee to kill the bill, saying its terms did not “pencil out” for Fidelity, meaning an opportunity would be wasted.

Fidelity’s lobbyist, Linda Swearingen, agreed the bill did not allow her employer enough water rights, nor acreage.

Since the bill granted only 600 acres to develop on, Swearingen said, “What you’ve just done is put a subdivision in the middle of this tract of land.”

Those expressing concern included even Central Oregon Landwatch, which had proposed allowing Fidelity 137 units on 400 acres of land.

The group’s Erik Kancler testified that the amended version of the bill eventually approved by the committee was too generous to the landowner — particularly in acreage.

“We are a little out of our comfort zone with that level of development, I must admit,” he said.

In the end, several committee members voted yes with the understanding that they would work to give the landowner 1,500 acres to develop on, as Fidelity requested.

Another part of the bill is intended as something of a consolation prize for the would-be developers of the Metolian — an “eco resort” proposed for the Metolius River Basin — if a resort ban proposed for the basin becomes law.

The Metolian group would be encouraged to develop its “eco resort” concept — sort of a scaled-down destination resort that has no golf course and meets strict environmental standards — on forested land elsewhere in the state.

Hasina Squires, a lobbyist for the Metolian, testified in opposition to the bill, saying that it would require any new “eco resort” to have two-thirds of its units be for overnight accommodation. That “essentially will result in a Hyatt Hotel” surrounded by homes, she said.

As planned, the Metolian would have more than 600 units, but the bulk of them would be homes, not overnight dwellings.

The bill now goes to a vote of the full House.

Nick Budnick can be reached at 503-566-2839 or at nbudnick@bendbulletin.com.