Sisters residents give input on city’s future

Sisters Country Horizons wants input regarding the future of the city and nearby areas. On Thursday night, it hosted the first of several meetings with area residents to take place this spring.

Some takeaway themes from the meeting include traffic, aesthetics, the economy and housing.

Thursday’s participants were in agreement that visitors are a good thing for the city, but also that there needs to be a better way to handle the increased traffic, particularly during one of the city’s many festivals.

One person also mentioned he’d like to see the arts culture developed further.

Most discussion focused on creating high-paying jobs and making homes more affordable.

“There’s not a lot of good-paying jobs, they’re maybe minimum wage,” Sisters resident Randall Tillery said. “And the housing costs are so high that between the two, what we wind up with right now is — I hear that there are people homeless on the edge of town, living in the fields and working full-time.”

If those issues people brought up seem broad, they’re supposed to be. Over the course of the summer, Sisters Country Horizons will work to narrow down the ideas and issues and form a plan.

There will be more opportunities after Thursday night to address issues like these.

“We’re holding more community meetings where we can have similar conversations,” Deschutes County Associate Planner Nicole Mardell said. “We’re looking for kind of a kitchen counter conversation.”

Find a complete list of planned meetings with the Sisters-area community here.