Site search
sponsored by
Home
News
MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) — Southern Oregon could soon be home to five new destination resorts like those that now dot Central Oregon after Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s recent signoff on a new land-use bill.
The bill eliminated a lengthy land-use review process for counties west of the Cascades trying to map areas for potential destination resorts. The legislation takes effect in January 2006.
Previous legislation had made the development process easier for counties east of the Cascades. Development there has centered in Deschutes, Jefferson and Crook counties.
“It puts us on more of an equal level as regards to Eastern Oregon,” Jackson County counsel Steve Rinkle said. “It will make it easier to map these areas and make amendments.”
Rinkle said he’s been approached by four or five attorneys representing county property owners considering developing destination resorts.
A few projects are already in the works, such as one on an 883-acre property between Gold Hill and Central Point that calls for a golf course, 150-room hotel, a horse arena and 300 luxury homes.
A Sunriver-style resort of 320 acres has been proposed in Merlin, with Jack Nicklaus as the golf course designer.
And Ashland resident Dom Provost said he has fought for almost 20 years to put a 320-acre destination resort on his property just south of town.
Provost said he has more than enough water on his property for an 18-hole golf course, large hotel and more than 100 condominiums and houses.
The project has faced legal challenges since it was first proposed.
Linda Swearingen, the former mayor of Sisters and former Deschutes County commissioner, said even with the new legislation, there are major stumbling blocks to picking a site, including water, road access and potential neighbor concerns.
Some resorts can require up to 1 million gallons of water a day in the summer, much of it for the golf course, she said.
But the benefits from a destination resort to both the developer and community can be enormous, Swearingen said. For instance, she said, the Sunriver Resort in Central Oregon has an assessed valuation of $1 billion.
———
Information from: Mail Tribune, http://www.mailtribune.com/
The bill eliminated a lengthy land-use review process for counties west of the Cascades trying to map areas for potential destination resorts. The legislation takes effect in January 2006.
Previous legislation had made the development process easier for counties east of the Cascades. Development there has centered in Deschutes, Jefferson and Crook counties.
“It puts us on more of an equal level as regards to Eastern Oregon,” Jackson County counsel Steve Rinkle said. “It will make it easier to map these areas and make amendments.”
Rinkle said he’s been approached by four or five attorneys representing county property owners considering developing destination resorts.
A few projects are already in the works, such as one on an 883-acre property between Gold Hill and Central Point that calls for a golf course, 150-room hotel, a horse arena and 300 luxury homes.
A Sunriver-style resort of 320 acres has been proposed in Merlin, with Jack Nicklaus as the golf course designer.
And Ashland resident Dom Provost said he has fought for almost 20 years to put a 320-acre destination resort on his property just south of town.
Provost said he has more than enough water on his property for an 18-hole golf course, large hotel and more than 100 condominiums and houses.
The project has faced legal challenges since it was first proposed.
Linda Swearingen, the former mayor of Sisters and former Deschutes County commissioner, said even with the new legislation, there are major stumbling blocks to picking a site, including water, road access and potential neighbor concerns.
Some resorts can require up to 1 million gallons of water a day in the summer, much of it for the golf course, she said.
But the benefits from a destination resort to both the developer and community can be enormous, Swearingen said. For instance, she said, the Sunriver Resort in Central Oregon has an assessed valuation of $1 billion.
———
Information from: Mail Tribune, http://www.mailtribune.com/
