Deschutes County seeks state OK for S. county sewers

The Deschutes County Planning Commission will hold two public hearings in coming weeks on a proposed exception to Statewide Planning Goal 11 (Public Facilities and Services) to amend the Deschutes County Comprehensive Plan to allow sewers in unincorporated southern Deschutes County.

The hearings will be held Thursday, July 23 at 2:00 and 5:30 p.m.in the La Pine Community Center, 16405 First Street, La Pine and August 13 at 5:30 p.m. in the Barnes and Sawyer Rooms in the Deschutes Services Building, 1300 NW Wall St., Bend. Oral and written testimony will be accepted.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), Land Conservation and Development (DLCD), and Deschutes County have jointly prepared land use application, File 247-15-000308-PA.

The land use application follows the unanimous recommendation of the DEQ Steering Committee in January 2013 to provide for a Goal 11 exception. The application will also amend the Newberry Country Plan with a policy that lands receiving a Goal 11 exception cannot be “upzoned” to more intense uses and add a Goal 11 map of affected tax lots.

Please note that if approved, a Goal 11 exception does not require sewers, but merely allows them under certain circumstances.

File 247-15-000308-PA include a burden of proof listing the approval criteria and findings; a map of the proposed Goal 11 Exception Area; proposed amendments to the Deschutes County Comprehensive Plan and the Newberry Country Plan; various state and federal fact sheets on nitrates and drinking water standards; DEQ Steering Committee on South Deschutes/North Klamath County report; a United States Geological Survey (USGS) report on nitrates in the La Pine area; and a traffic study related to the impacts of lots that could be developed if sewers are built.

(File 247-15-000308-PA only allows for the options of sewers; no sewers are required.)

Copies of the submitted materials are available at the Deschutes County website at http://www.deschutes.org/cd/page/goal-11-exception

or hard copies at the Bend, La Pine, and Sunriver libraries or at the Community Development Department, 117 NW Lafayette, Bend.