After deliberating most of Friday, Land Conservation and Development commissioners recommended the state Legislature designate the Metolius River Basin an Area of Critical State Concern.
The Metolius basin could be the state's first location to receive the distinction. The designation is reserved for an area with special natural resources, valued by the state's citizens, that presumably need protection to preserve them.
"(The commissioners) decided it is a unique area with outstanding values that are important to all of Oregon," said Richard Whitman, director of the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development. "And those values are threatened by current and future plans for large-scale development."
In December, Gov. Ted Kulongoski launched a plan to stop destination resorts in the area by asking DLCD to start the designation process. The DLCD held four public hearings where hundreds of people testified as to whether they agreed with the designation. Whitman said over the past couple of months, two themes emerged.
"The majority of the sentiment was that the Metolius needs to be protected," Whitman said. "The second thing we heard a lot was concern for Jefferson County, in terms of trying to provide some opportunity for the property owners and the county."
The Jefferson County commissioners traveled to Salem to listen to state officials deliberate. At a meeting earlier this week, the county commissioners urged state officials not to rush such an important process. Jefferson County Commissioner Mike Ahern said the state officials still didn't have their facts straight.
"There is an anti-resort sentiment right now, and we're just getting the backlash from it," Ahern said.
"We're never excited about state regulations that we will have to manage and execute, but it's not over yet," he said.
Two proposed destination resorts are at the heart of the discussion to protect the Metolius River Basin. The Metolian, an approximate 675-acre eco-resort is being proposed by Dutch Pacific Resources LLC. Its resort plans do not include a golf course. The second, proposed by Ponderosa Land and Cattle Co., would include a golf course and have about 2,500 units.
At Wednesday's meeting, state officials presented a draft management plan that divided the Metolius River Basin into different zones. The first zone would prohibit all large-scale development. This zone would be the most protected, but would allow the Metolian to develop some units in the area. The details, how many structures and what type, have not been determined yet. The commission will meet again in one to two weeks to establish the details.
The second zone, would remain relatively protected. The Ponderosa developers could build some units, about 100, but again, the details are yet to be worked out.
Two days ago, there was a third zone. An area known as Round Butte, located near Lake Billy Chinook, was offered as an alternative area for development. After the plan was determined to be unpopular -- it's near prime Jefferson County farmland -- the idea was dropped.
Rick Allen, the lobbyist for Ponderosa, is still hopeful a compromise will be reached.
"This is a recommendation to the Legislature," Allen said. "And we have a lot of friends in the Legislature. We plan on negotiating very strongly for a solution that works for the county, the developers and also the people of the Metolius basin."
Lauren Dake can be reached at 541-419-8074 or at ldake@bendbulletin.com.