SUNRIVER NEIGHBORS

The Independent Voice of Sunriver Owners

Sunriver’s trees and wildflowers constitute a community treasure.” — The Consolidated Plan of Sunriver

Sunriver Owners’ Draft Plan Protections

  1. Purpose: The purpose of this standard is to encourage and support Sunriver owners planting native trees, shrubs, and wildflowers in their landscapes by permitting owners to protect vulnerable native plants from destruction or serious damage by deer, beavers, porcupines, or other animals through the reasonable use of high-quality fencing that does not create an unacceptable visual impact on other owners or create a significant risk to wildlife.
  2. Definitions. For the purpose of this standard, the terms below have the following meanings:
    1. Metal fence. Any continuous length of metal fencing material.
    2. Native plant. A plant that occurs naturally in Sunriver or the surrounding Central Oregon, high desert environment, or that is capable of naturalizing or adapting to Sunriver’s environmental
    3. Structural barrier. Something that is constructed or built with the primary purpose of protecting plants by keeping potentially harmful animals (e.g., deer) apart from one or more plants.
  3. Other than as permitted under subsection (4), below, structural barriers may not be used to protect plants unless approved by the Design Committee under subsection (6), below.
  4. Metal fences may be used to protect native plants, including trees, shrubs, and wildflowers, only when such use meets the following criteria:
    1. All fences must be made of metal, welded-wire fencing material with dark green or black vinyl coating.
    2. The fencing material openings must be either 2″ x 3″ or 2″ x 4″.
    3. The highest point anywhere on all fences must be no more than five (5) feet above grade at the point of measurement.
    4. Each fence must fit completely inside a square of 15 feet by 15 feet.
      [NOTE: This defines the maximum dimensions and area of any exclosure or other barrier.]
    5. A maximum of fifteen (15) fences are allowed per platted lot.
    6. The total length of installed fences must not exceed three hundred (300) linear feet per platted lot.
    7. All portions of each fence must be at least five (5) feet from any portion of all other fences.
      [NOTE: This prevents any combination of fences from creating a full barrier across a lot. The most extreme configuration that would be permitted would be a linear series of 15-foot fences with 5-foot gaps between them.]
  1. Exceptions.
    1. Any columnar (e.g., having the form of a cylinder, tube, or other closed encirclement) protection of a tree trunk is exempt from any other plant protection standards if it meets the following criteria:
      1. The maximum inner dimension of the protection is no greater than the maximum diameter of the portion of the trunk it encloses plus 8 inches; and
      2. No portion of the protection is more than five (5) feet above grade; and
      3. Its color is among the following colors:
        1. Dark green
        2. Dark brown
        3. Black
        4. “Camouflage mixture”
        5. Non-reflective galvanized is allowed only when used to protect an Aspen tree trunk.
    2. Trunk protections that encompass multiple trunks are also exempt when such a configuration would require less fencing material than would be required to protect all of the trunks individually and they meet the requirements in subsections 5(a)(ii) and (iii), above.
    3. The fence is not higher than eighteen (18) inches and is not longer than five (5) linear feet.
  1. Variances.
    The Design Committee may approve variances by application of an owner when the Design Committee adopts written findings that the effect of the variance would serve the purposes of this “Native Plant Protection” section, as stated above; and the variance meets one or more of the following criteria that are applicable to the requested variance.
    1. A structural barrier using other than metal, welded-wire fencing material is allowed if it would meet all of the standards in (4)(c) through (g), above, and the following criteria:
      1. Would not pose a hazard to entrapping animals in the barrier, and
      2. Would either:
        1. Not be visible from any other owner’s lot or from a bike path; or
        2. The entire structural barrier is 50 feet or more from any other owner’s property or a bike path.
    2. The structural barrier would have a form, scale, and materials that would have less visual impact than would the use of permitted metal fencing; and it would not pose a hazard to entrapping or injuring animals in the barrier.
    3. The fencing material has a gauge that is thinner than 14-gauge and the fence is less than three (3) feet high and has adequate support to maintain its structural integrity.
    4. The opening is at least six (6) square inches and not more than nine (9) square inches.
    5. Up to three (3) additional fences may be allowed on platted lots that are 10,000 square feet or more and less than 20,000 square feet as long as the total length of installed fences does not exceed three hundred and fifty (350) feet per platted lot.
    6. Up to six (6) additional fences may be allowed on platted lots that are over 20,000 square feet as long as the total length of installed fences does not exceed four hundred (400) feet per platted lot.