Focus area
Smart Growth
Put growth where the town can support it. Protect open space and neighborhood character everywhere else.
Sisters is going to change between now and 2040. The question is whether we shape that change or just absorb it. Central Oregon has been one of the fastest growing parts of the state for decades, and the pressure on housing and infrastructure is real.
The idea we're exploring is simple. Concentrate growth downtown and along the corridors that can handle it, where a bit more height and mixed use can add housing, workplaces, and street life. Keep the forest edges, the open space, and the established neighborhoods the way they are.
There are real tradeoffs in that, and residents should push back on it. What is the right height on Cascade Avenue? Which places should never change? Those calls belong to the community, not to this project. Our job is to lay out the options and what each one would cost.
The question we keep asking
Where should the next decade of housing go, and what should it look like so Sisters still feels like Sisters?
3,064
residents of Sisters at the last census
The town has grown steadily while staying walkably small.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2020
Get involved
Know this territory? This focus area needs resident knowledge, working hands, and honest critics.
Ways to participate →“We are not planning for a larger Sisters. We are designing a better Sisters.”