Stalled plans for an eco-resort near Suttle Lake could lead to the long-discussed expansion of Aspen Lakes Golf Course into a full resort.

When the state blocked plans for the Metolian resort in 2009 it gave Shane Lundgren, a Camp Sherman entrepreneur, the chance to build a resort in another part of Oregon if he found the right spot. A new state-formed workgroup is looking into whether such resort development would fit somewhere in Deschutes County.

“The other counties we have looked at just don’t have the population base or economy,” Lundgren said. “Deschutes makes a lot of sense.”

Depending what the workgroup determines, Lundgren said he may consider building at Aspen Lakes.

Matt Cyrus and his family, who own Aspen Lakes, have attempted to add homes and overnight lodging to the golf course since 1989. But the Cyruses have been unable to do so because of state land use laws and failed attempts to get lawmakers to pass exceptions for their property.

Now Lundgren’s problem could be the Cyruses’ solution.

If the state allows Lundgren to move his resort plans to Deschutes County he said he could build as many as 480 total units on the Cyrus property.

Those units would be a mix of homes and overnight accommodations, said Matt Cyrus, but it is too early to say whether those accommodations would be a motel complex, condominiums or another housing setup.

“It is premature to even do design until we know what we can design,” he said.

Rep. John Huffman, R-The Dalles, said he is organizing the workgroup at the request of Gov. John Kitzhaber’s office. Huffman said he is deciding whether to introduce a bill next legislative session to allow Lundgren to pursue a resort in Deschutes County. Lundgren would then have to earn county approval for his specific plans for a resort and its location.

“We are just trying to work through what the concerns would be,” Huffman said of the workgroup.

The workgroup, which has about 15 members, has held two public meetings in Sisters so far. Members of the workgroup include officials from the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development, Oregon Water Resources Department and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, as well as Lundgren and Cyrus.

A meeting held by the workgroup last week at Sisters High School drew more than 100 people and “virtually everyone opposed it,” said Paul Dewey, executive director for Central Oregon LandWatch and another member of the workgroup. The Bend-based nonprofit has opposed past legislative attempts to allow the Cyruses to expand Aspen Lakes.

Dewey’s nonprofit wants to see the Cyrus property left as open space.

The family has 2,000 acres in all around Oregon Highway 126 and Camp Polk Road, Matt Cyrus said. The holdings include the golf course, his father’s farm and a subdivision. The golf course covers about 500 acres and the subdivision is on about 150 acres. The family hopes to have more homes and the overnight accommodations built on about 400 acres, meaning about half of the total property would be developed.

While Huffman said he has heard concerns about further development from people who live in the existing subdivision, he’s currently focused on figuring out whether Deschutes County is the place for Lundgren to develop a resort, particularly on the Cyrus property.

The original vision for the Metolian resort was a vacation experience different than “another big golf course resort,” Lundgren said. The plans called for high-efficiency buildings woven into the woods. He said his eco-resort would cater to the “REI crowd,” or younger people looking to run trails and ride mountain bikes during their resort stay.

He said he’d want to bring similar plans to the Cyrus property, which is more open terrain than the forests where he planned the Metolian.

“It is not as interesting a property,” Lundgren said, “but it’s still a great area.”