Break out the Beaver booster paraphernalia... Bend is
looking more orange.
Backers
of the quest to build a 4-year campus for Oregon State University in Bend
crossed another milestone at the start of September when a hearing officer
upheld the City of Bend’s approval of the project’s first phase.
In
his 94-page decision, hearing officer Kenneth Helm found that OSU’s application
to begin a campus on a 10.44-acre parcel bordered by Century Drive and Chandler
Avenue complied with the existing city development code. Nearly all the site is
zoned for limited commercial use.
Although
establishing nearly 30 conditions, many of them routine, for the city to
address, Helm didn’t agree with opponents arguments that parking issues were inadequately
addressed, or that a master plan for future phases should have been part of the
initial application for the first phase of development.
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| Aerial of 10.44 acre first phase |
Instead,
Helm said the university’s parking plan, which assumes considerable bike,
pedestrian and bus transportation, met the code requirements, although he noted
the code lacks a clear definition of what constitutes an adequate plan. The
application stipulates 300 parking spaces for the site, which the university
says could accommodate a maximum of 1,960 students.
The
hearing officer also determined city code did not mandate submission of an
expanded master plan that would include an adjacent 46-acre site the university
is considering but has yet to purchase. Opponents have said the 46-acres should
be included in the initial application.
But
Helm acknowledged, “the frustration of TSC (Truth in Site Coalition opponents) and
other concerned neighbors with the seemingly piecemeal way that OSU is moving
forward with the OSU Cascades project.”
OSU’s
approach, Helm said, “comes very close to thwarting” intent of city master plan
provisions that strive to create integrated mixed use neighborhoods, minimize traffic
congestion, reduce urban sprawl and deter environmental damage.
Helm
wrote that OSU could have asked 4-R Equipment LLC, owner of the 46 acre parcel, to participate in
a non-binding conceptual plan for that potential part of the campus.
“However,
there is no evidence that the applicant made such an effort,” he concluded.
TSC
could file an appeal within an approximate two week period, but a spokesman was
quoted in local media as saying no decision had been made.
In
a statement issued after the decision was released, OSU-Cascades president
Becky Johnson said, “We appreciate the city’s and Mr. Helm’s thorough review of
our application, as well as the extensive community input regarding the site
plan.”
The
Truth in Site opponents have maintained that the 1,500 acre Juniper Ridge
property on the city’s northern edge, and owned by the city, would be a more appropriate site for the new
campus and would create less impact on existing neighborhoods.
However,
those favoring the current site say infrastructure cost for Juniper Ridge would
be prohibitive and it would be too removed from retail, entertainment,
transportation and other amentites to attract students.
OSU's statement said the first phase of the new
4-year campus is expected to open for undergraduate students in Fall of 2016. The 4-year
program will admit freshmen in Fall of 2015 with some attending classes at
Cascades Hall on the current joint Central Oregon Community College-OSU campus
off Mt. Washington Drive several miles to the north.
Others
would be accommodated at the Graduate and Research Center in existing space the
university leases along SW Columbia Street west of Riverfront Park on the Deschutes
River.
When
complete the new 4-year university is expected to have a maximum of 5,000
students, including the nearly 2,000 in the first phase, and other when the
expansion site is determined.
