In Landwatch's ongoing 10-year effort to protect the forest lands in and around the proposed Skyline Forest (the private forestland between Bend and Sisters, the foothills of the Three Sisters mountains), Landwatch successfully appealed to LUBA a Deschutes County approval of a partition of land next to the proposed Skyline Forest.

View Central Oregon Landwatch v. Deschutes County, __OR LUBA__(LUBA No. 2010-085)(2011).

LUBA ruled that the County had failed to adequately address whether proposed flag lot parcels would be suitable for residential use due to inadequate access. The flagpoles were not shown to provide a safe, practicable travel route to a public road. LUBA also found the County failed to adequately address whether the proposed flag lot parcels would be suitable in this high fire risk area where the developable parts of the parcels are so far from a public road. In addition, LUBA ruled that the County Code requires two accesses to public roads to have assured access for emergency vehicles and resident evacuation.

On remand from the LUBA decision, the developer, the Bank of Whitman, is again attempting a partition. The Deschutes County Hearings Officer recently ruled in LandWatch’s favor in denying the application.

To read more about our current work with Skyline Forest Click here.

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Central Oregon Landwatch | 623 NW Hill St. | Bend, Oregon 97701

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Website photos courtesy of Christian Heeb, Brent McGregor, Erik Kancler, and Michel & Toby Bayard