If all goes as now planned approximately 56 acres
bordered by Mt. Washington Drive and Chandler Avenue on Bend’s west side will
be the site of a new campus for the emerging 4-Year OSU-Cascades college.
The preferred site, just west of the gated Broken Top
golf community, was
announced by OSU officials
Sept. 13. But many who had followed the process had considered it an obvious
choice as one of the largest parcels within the city limits.
Early reports some weeks ago indicated the adjacent
former landfill owned by Deschutes County might be under consideration. But two parcels, one approximately 46 acres
and the other 10 acres, just south of the county site are now leading the way
on a fast track to have new facilities ready for the 2015-2016 academic year.
Plans call for 146,000 square feet of facilities by then,
which would include both classroom and onsite living quarters for students.
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| The proposed site of the new OSU-Cascades campus |
Depending on results of OSU’s due diligence period, which
runs six months with a possible 60-day extension, the university has agreed to
pay a total of nearly $13 million for the two parcels.
The legislature appropriated $16 million in bond funding
in the last session that ended in July. This would be added to $4 million from
the university budget and another $4 million raised within Central Oregon.
OSU and its consulting engineering and environmental
specialists have begun their Level 1 assessment of the smaller parcel. Recent
reports in local media say there was some evidence of “non-native” material
that could have migrated from the adjacent Deschutes County property, once used
for demolition, construction, industrial and other problem waste.
However, OSU officials were quoted as saying that a lot
line adjustment could be considered to remedy portions of the site that might
have material that moved from the county property. In the long-term, an OSU
official said, the county site could be an expansion possibility for the
campus.
Apparently never under serious consideration as a
potential campus site was the 1,500 acre Juniper Ridge project owned by the
City of Bend, which recieved the land as a gift from Deschutes County.
The city had intitially said it would like to see
research companies and a major education facility on the property. But the
region’s severe real estate downturn, transportation access and a dispute with
consulting developers over the project’s master plan have plagued the project.
