A month after Deschutes County commissioners heard arguments about a controversial resort proposal west of Redmond, the county is still trying to make sense of a case that’s spanned nearly a decade, gone through numerous appeals, a recession and an ownership change.

Commissioners dove deep into the county’s destination resort code during deliberations on the Thornburgh resort case Wednesday. They spent nearly three hours on technical points in what’s turned into a massively complex case.

Commissioners could have ruled Wednesday on whether Thornburgh developers can resume work on what the county calls a conceptual master plan — a document outlining the overall proposal for a resort. If no action is taken to build on the master plan within two years of it being approved, the plan becomes void. But commissioners decided to push a vote back to Monday after it became clear they would need more time to digest the pieces of the case.

Thornburgh was first proposed in 2005, and the county approved the project within a year of an application being filed. But opponents appealed the county’s approval, and the case bounced for years between the county, the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals, the state Court of Appeals and even the Oregon Supreme Court.

Amid all the appeals, the economic recession crushed the luxury home market. None of the 950 homes, 475 overnight lodging units and three golf courses has been built at the property. No structures are even in place. But the arguments in the Thornburgh case center on whether the developer is at fault for the delays. The two-year period doesn’t apply if developers can show delays aren’t their fault.

Commissioner Tammy Baney seemed to have the strongest opinion either way. She repeatedly emphasized that Thornburgh developers had several chances between a post-bankruptcy ownership change in 2011, through mid-2013, to seek extensions. Those could have given the resort years of additional time to get off the ground, she said.

But the extension applications never came.

“We have a long line of developers in this community that have gone through bankruptcy and lost the ability to develop, period. They at least were given the opportunity to hold their place in line by filing extensions,” Baney said. “They only thing that’s a hindrance to this case is that they stopped moving forward and exercising anything.”

Her position counters claims made by Thornburgh attorneys at three county hearings going back to February.

Delays in building the resort have been caused by vigorous appeals from opponents of the plan, the onset of the economic recession and a slow response from federal agencies to approve certain wildlife requirements for the property, the attorneys have said.

The opponents, including some residents in rural Redmond-area neighborhoods and the environmental group Central Oregon LandWatch, maintain the resort’s conceptual master plan has been expired more than two years.

The commissioners have the final say on the case, though any ruling could be appealed. But they were repeatedly tripped up Wednesday on technical points in the county’s code, things such as the differences between a conceptual master plan and final master plan, which is a much more detailed look at the specific project requirements than a conceptual plan.

Commissioners Alan Unger and Tony DeBone were a bit more receptive than Baney to arguments that delays weren’t the developer’s fault — though none of the commissioners came out firmly for or against the proposal.

Unger argued Thornburgh’s submission of a final master shows progress has been made on the overall plan. Commissioners are only supposed to rule on whether Thornburgh’s conceptual master plan has been initiated, not any of the broader points of the resort proposal.

“To me, they initiated (the project) by submitting their final master plan,” Unger said.

Commissioners are scheduled to make a ruling at their next public meeting, at 10 a.m. Monday .

— Reporter: 541-617-7820, eglucklich@bendbulletin.com