Traffic moves on U.S. Highway 97 through La Pine in 2014.  

LA PINE — Not long ago the council members of the newest city in Oregon would meet around a small table in a cramped room in a county building.

“So we were really kind of up-close and personal,” said Adele McAfee, a former La Pine councilwoman.

Ken Mulenex, mayor of the fledgling city in south Deschutes County, remembers the tight quarters as well. “When we got a few people in the room we had a packed room, that’s how small it was,” he said. “But we got a nice building now.”

La Pine City Hall sits along U.S. Highway 97 at the south end of town. The city bought the building in 2011 and had it remodeled. City leaders say it is just one of the signs of progress and growth for the city, established by a November 2006 vote. The city incorporated in January 2007.

Earlier efforts to incorporate La Pine, in 1985, 1994 and 2000, failed, according to a history of the city on the La Pine Chamber of Commerce website.

Rick Allen, interim city manager for La Pine, said the size of the city finally approved in 2006 was smaller than previous proposals. This has set La Pine up as a small town that is a hub for many more than just its residents.

There are 1,670 residents in La Pine, but Mulenex said there are up to 20,000 people living in the south county who connect to the city. If they live within city limits they now rely on the city for services; if they are outside, they count on Deschutes County.

The initial stages of turning La Pine, which existed for nearly a century as an unincorporated community, into a city involved crafting plans, setting ordinances and creating rules. The latest work includes putting up street lamps, building sidewalks and planting trees.

“People are starting to see projects on the ground,” said Allen . Allen is in his second stint as the city’s top administrative official and while his title has interim at the front, he said the City Council isn’t currently looking for a permanent replacement.

Some of the most visible projects have been the changes around City Hall, he said. “It kind of shows what is going to happen with the rest of town,” Allen said.

What’s been done

The main logistics for charting La Pine’s course as a city are done, with the comprehensive plan and city charter complete. The city finished a comprehensive plan, which lays out a vision for such things as land use and transportation for La Pine, in March 2010 and voters approved a city charter, essentially a constitution specific to the city, in May 2011.

Mulenex and Allen list the city’s taking over water and sewer service from special service districts as a big challenge and now an accomplishment. The city did so in July 2012.

It didn’t reach these milestones without road bumps though. Early on it proved difficult to keep people on the City Council, in part because they needed to live in the small city limits of the town and in part because of the demands of the work. But city leadership has stabilized in recent years.

Early this year, La Pine opened its own Community Development Department, handling building and electrical permits for residents. Before they dealt with the county for such permits. In February, the city also started requiring licenses for businesses operating within city limits.

The business licenses, taxes and other requirements of operating in a city have brought mixed reviews from local business owners.

Joel Brader, who bought the Harvest Depot restaurant 10 years ago, said the cost of doing business in La Pine has gone up since it became a city.

“There are way more positives than negatives (though),” he said.

John Zigler, the owner of John Zigler Automotive Repair, which has been in business 25 years, worries the costs associated with opening and running a business in La Pine could keep people from starting new shops or stores.

He said he feels the city isn’t encouraging him to stay either.

“At this point I can say it has done absolutely nothing for me,” Zigler said.

Getting people to buy into business, zoning and other rules is part of the growing pains of a city, said Allen, the La Pine city manager.

Adding to that difficulty is the independent spirit of many of the people who live there.

Allen goes out himself and does code enforcement, responding to property and nuisance complaints. It’s all part of helping the city grow, he said.

“Starting a city sounds easier than it is,” Allen said. “And it is easier to create it than it is to operate.”

What’s to come

The early visions for La Pine as a city came from a group of local residents and leaders in the mid-1990s and a workshop in 2000. Many of the goals they set have been reached, including a senior center, health center and skate park. But much work is left to be done.

Conversations about La Pine’s future with city leaders turn to the look and feel of the town. Allen said his No. 1 goal is to clean up the community.

Part of achieving this goal is code enforcement and part is an urban renewal district that got the go-ahead from the county in August. The district will lead to more street overhauls, additions of sidewalks, lights and landscaping.

“It will change people’s mental picture of La Pine, and that is key for La Pine’s economic growth,” Allen said.

The makeover will be similar to the recent changes along U.S. Highway 20 passing through downtown Sisters, but Allen said La Pine’s new look would be different than Sisters.

“That way it that doesn’t take away from the small-town feel of La Pine,” he said.

Mulenex echoed Allen’s thoughts, saying cleaning up Highway 97 as it passes through La Pine could invite tourism.

“We need to put a clean face on La Pine,” he said.

Talk of a revamp is met with apprehension from some La Pine long-timers, like Zigler, the owner of the car repair shop. He also brought up Sisters when talking about La Pine.

“I don’t want to live in Sisters,” he said. “If I had wanted to live in Sisters I would have lived there.”

Allen asked for patience and understanding as city leaders continue to mold what La Pine will become.

“We need people to give us time to continue down this road of building a city,” Allen said.

— Reporter: 541-617-7812, ddarling@bendbulletin.com