John Griffith of the Nugget Newspaper reports the Sisters City Council is in support of keeping Aspen Lakes cluster development on the map of destination resort-eligible lands.

After a 3-2 vote the Sisters City Council has agreed to send a letter of support for Aspen Lakes to the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners despite objections from local citizens. Griffith reports two residents voiced their concern about converting the cluster development to a destination resort and the violation of county and state statues. Merry Ann Moore talked of the threat of the development to the restoration of Wychus Creek and the over-appropriated water rights.

Council member Bill Merrill objected the letter of support referring to it as irresponsible and unnecessary. Merrill went on to say there has been no evaluation of financial or socials costs of the development.

On the other hand, City Manager Eileen Stein and Councilors Lon Kellstrom and Pat Thompson are in support of the letter. Kellstrom and Thompson both feel Sisters would benefit from the tourism draw.

Kellstrom stated, "We think it would be a help long-term for Sisters. We're under no illusions about the difficulty (of conversion). I don't know if they'll get there or not."

The Deschutes County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to meet July 28th. The meeting is anticipated to be the final consideration of the destination resort mapping issue.

The city’s letter can be found here.