A dispute last summer regarding a temporary use permit at an old gas station in Sisters has turned into ongoing litigation.

Celia Hung, owner of the Bend/Sisters Garden RV Resort, obtained the permit from the city last year for the former Chevron gas station site at Cascade Avenue and Oak Street where vendors set up during the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show in mid-July. The permit approval was quickly met with opposition from some residents who worried about events held there becoming a “tent city.”

Several months have passed, but now multiple civil cases related to the dispute are playing out in Deschutes County Circuit Court.

The city filed a lawsuit against Wendie Kellington, Hung’s lawyer, in November defending its refusal to hand over requested public records since the cost of compiling them went unpaid.

The city has also asked a judge to review an order issued by the Deschutes County District Attorney’s Office to release the records to Kellington.

Steven Bryant, the city’s attorney, said several notices were sent to Kellington asking if she wanted to proceed with the costs of producing the records. The city was then never informed that she petitioned the DA’s office, Bryant said, a requirement under Oregon law.

Peter Hicks, who is representing Kellington, declined to comment on the situation.

The legal action is a footnote to ongoing discussions in Sisters about temporary businesses in the downtown commercial district.

The city is now revising its municipal code for temporary use permits and transient vendor licenses. It also has faced questions recently about the approval of food carts at a permanent location next to Eurosports owned by former mayor Brad Boyd.

Hung and Richard Esterman, a Sisters event promoter, set up Artist Marketplace vendors on the former Chevron site during last summer’s quilt show. They requested the city exempt each individual vendor from paying for a transient merchant license, citing city code that allows the fees to be waived for limited events that don’t pose a health or safety risk and are “held in conjunction with a special event” with a permit from the city. The request was denied.

Hung filed a petition against the city in August asking a circuit judge to review the city’s decision. The case has now been put on hold after the dispute was brought to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals.

The petition states that Hung went ahead and purchased individual transient licenses for each of the 52 vendors, which amounted to $15,600.

“These fees exceed the receipts she or Mr. Esterman recouped, or reasonably could have been expected to recoup, from the Artist Marketplace,” the petition states.

As opposition to Hung’s temporary use permit began to heat up in June, Kellington requested public records from the city.

According to the complaint filed against Kellington, the city was blindsided by an order from former DA Patrick Flaherty to produce the public records. The complaint states the city never denied Kellington’s request. The issue came down to the cost of “summarizing, compiling and tailoring the public records to comply with the request.”

Kellington made a $1,000 deposit to the city for the request, according to the complaint, but then did not respond to the city informing her that the process would exceed the deposited amount. She then went to Flaherty and said the city had “improperly withheld certain public records sought in the request,” the city alleged in a subsequent court petition.

Hicks filed a motion to dismiss the complaint on behalf of Kellington. Among other points of contention, the motion states the complaint fails to “demonstrate that the fees (the city) sought to charge Kellington were reasonably related to its actual costs for research and copying.”

The city has asked that a circuit judge review Flaherty’s order, claiming he failed to notify the city in October when Kellington filed a petition asking for the release of the records.

“Once he issued his decision there wasn’t anything for the city to do but appeal that decision,” said Bryant.

Both cases filed by the city are still open and have resulted in multiple hearings in court. A resolution hasn’t been reached.

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