Resort Development in Central Oregon:
Costs vs. Benefits
Central Oregon is experiencing a surge in destination resort development throughout the region. There are currently seven active resorts in the area, with at least seven more in various stages of planning. While some tout the economic benefits the resorts may bring to the region, others voice concerns about the detrimental effects to quality of life. The City Club will explore whether the benefits to the economy are worth the costs to the region.
On July 17, 2008 The City Club of Central Oregon and The Bank of Cascades will present the third Thursday forum, "Resort Development in Central Oregon: Costs vs. Benefits." The forum will address these issues in a panel presentation by; Linda Swearingen, Development Consultant, Dennis Luke, Deschutes County Commissioner and Paul Dewey, Attorney and Co-Founder of Central Oregon Landwatch
Register Online - the online registration deadline has passed. Please phone for seating availability. 541-633-7163.
The Forum will begin at 11:30 at St. Charles Center for Health and Learning located at 2500 Neff Road in Bend. Lunch will be served. The cost is $13.00 for members and $25.00 for non members. Check in begins at 11:15. You may pre-pay online by using the link above, or use the "contact us" link to RSVP for the event and pay at the door with cash or check.
Resort Development Panel Members
Linda Swearingen
Linda Swearingen of the Swearingen Group is a development consultant with a primary focus on destination resorts in the state of Oregon. She has served as Mayor of Sisters, Oregon; Chair of the Deschutes County (Oregon) Board of Commissioners, member of the Board of Directors to Central Oregon District Hospital, and several other community boards. She also served as the Executive Director of the Redmond Chamber of Commerce and previously served as owner/broker of Swearingen Real Estate Company.
Dennis Luke
Commissioner Dennis Luke joined Deschutes County government in January 1999 after serving three terms as the State Representative from District 54. His extensive legislative involvement included chairing the House Education Committee in 1995 and 1997 and chairing the Human Resources Committee in 1995. He was also a member of the House Natural Resources Committee in 1993, 1995, and 1997 and the Children and Family Committee in 1997. Luke currently serves as Budget Officer of the Board of County Commissioners.
Dennis owned Luke Builders, Inc. in Bend for over 30 years, building single family and commercial buildings. He's served as the Central Oregon Builders' Association President, and President of the Oregon State Home Builders' Association. In 1991 he was selected as Oregon's Builder of the Year.
As a Deschutes County Commissioner, Dennis has been the Budget Officer, Chair and Vice-Chair; and is currently the Board liaison to Solid Waste, District Attorney's Office, the Sheriff's Office, the Courts and the Community Development Department.
Paul Dewey
Paul is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law and has been an attorney in Oregon for over 25 years specializing in land use, environmental, and Indian law. He is admitted to practice in Oregon, the Federal District Court of Oregon, the Ninth Circuit, the Federal Court of Claims and the Federal Circuit, and has experience with cases involving the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, NFMA and NEPA, and Oregon land use laws.
His private clients have included the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, the Wilderness Society, the Oregon Natural Desert Association and farmers in the Grand Ronde Valley.
Paul has worked for two Oregon governors reviewing roadless areas in the state and was on Governor Kitzhaber’s Eastside Forest Advisory Council for 6 years. He has received a number of land use and environmental protection awards and in 2006, was recognized as Central Oregon’s Man of the Year by Bend’s weekly newspaper, the Source Weekly.
In 1986 he organized the Sisters Forest Planning Committee (now Central Oregon Landwatch) and has been active in the organization ever since. Paul has represented LandWatch in numerous land use cases before local governments, the Land Use Board of Appeals, State Circuit Court, and the Oregon Court of Appeals.
Articles Related to Central Oregon Resort Development:
Oregon lawmakers may nix destination resort plans to protect river
A Flood of Resort Rooms is on the Horizon
Reconsideration of the 38 Week Standard - Landwatch Letter to Commissioner Luke