With designs in hand for a new district office building, the Sisters Ranger District will put most of its administrative land on the west end of Sisters up for auction Monday.

Bidding starts at $14 million for the 62 acres just to the north of U.S. Highway 20 as well as the triangle-shaped piece of land to the south of the highway as it enters downtown Sisters. The U.S. Forest Service will keep 17.5 acres of the property as a site for a new administrative building, which will be paid for with proceeds from the auction.

The agency’s plans to sell the site at the entrance to Sisters, which was announced more than two years ago, had sparked a debate in the community about what should go in the prime piece of real estate, with people floating ideas including swimming pools, ice skating rinks, a senior or community center and a ban on big-box stores.

But the City Council decided to not set any guidelines for new development, although it said it would consider changes if a developer proposes them.

And as the sale moves forward, the Sisters Ranger District is looking at plans for its new office.

“I think it’ll be a nice building to work in, and it’ll be an attractive building for the community,” said Rod Bonacker, special projects coordinator with the Sisters Ranger District.

The Forest Service released designs for the new building Friday, illustrating an 11,000-square-foot, energy-efficient building that Bonacker said was designed to fit in with other area buildings.

“It’s necessarily a compromise between trying to find a distinctive Forest Service, Cascadian look and going with the Sisters 1880s theme,” he said, while also factoring in energy efficiency and ways to keep the cost down.

The building will have vertical cedar siding, lots of stone, lots of glass and an open office area, Bonacker said. The contract has not been awarded, so he said he didn’t know what the final price would be, but the agency is hoping that $14 million would cover the building and planning costs and also have some left over for the future Bend-Fort Rock Ranger District and Deschutes National Forest Supervisor’s Office buildings.

The new Sisters building also is designed to have a gold rating from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program from the U.S. Green Building Council, he said, with lots of insulation and a built-in heating system that circulates water and doesn’t take much electricity to operate.

“The Forest Service is required by regulation to get at least a silver rating, and a gold rating was just something we really wanted to shoot for,” he said.

The old property is listed on a government auction site at www.auctionrp.com, and bids will be taken on it at least through August, although it will go on until people stop bidding.

Bonacker said he sent out notices for the auction earlier this week and already has had about eight inquiries, and the auction site has gotten some interest as well, he said.

And although the buyer will purchase land zoned for public facilities, the Sisters City Council members decided this spring that they would not set requirements now for what could be built there, but instead would consider proposals from the property’s buyer.

“In our opinion, that’s a good thing. It gives some room for a prospective purchaser to negotiate with the city; it gives the city control over what’s going to happen,” Bonacker said.

The city had been considering setting guidelines for future development at the site, which would have required developers to put a pool or a senior center on the property, but changed course after getting advice from the Department of Land Conservation and Development, said Eileen Stein, Sisters’ city manager.

If the city was to set requirements, she said, it would also have to justify why the change was necessary, which would take time and money. Or, the city could wait and let the future developer propose, and justify, changes to the zoning.

“Instead of putting very detailed guidance in place,” she said, “we are going to still move forward and amend our comprehensive plan and put in place some language that simply says if the property ends up in private hands … the city of Sisters may contemplate a zone change down the line.”

That lets the potential owner know that they will have the opportunity to go beyond the public facility options, she said, but also leaves things open.

“We don’t want to get ourselves into a predetermined outcome either, because the new owner may have a great idea as well,” Stein said.

But she added that after discussions within the community and the City Council about what people envision for the property, there will probably be some things that the city looks for in plans from a developer, such as some affordable housing with any residences, open space requirements and size limits for commercial buildings.

To learn more

The Sisters Ranger District property is listed for auction at www.auctionrp.com/Property_details.cfm?id=929. Bidding opens Monday. For more information about the property, contact Rod Bonacker at 549-7729.

There will be two open houses for prospective bidders to see the property, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today and July 12; for more information, call Bonacker or e-mail rbonacker@fs.fed.us.