It’s an understatement to say Bend has a full plate of
government and civic issues or projects heading into the summer months of 2015.
With the housing market recovery well underway many
issues that had been dormant with the poor economy are now coming to the top of
a busy agenda.
What to do with Mirror Pond? Where to build the 4-Year
OSU-Cascades Campus? How to fashion an Urban Growth Boundary plan to satisfy
the State of Oregon? These are the key issues as yet decided.
Already underway, however, is the Bridge Creek piping and
water treatment project after the city has mostly prevailed in and number of challenges.
Also progressing are two recreation projects that promise
to build on the city’s established tourism reputation and appeal as well to outdoor-loving
residents- the new whitewater park and fish passage at Colorado Street on the
Deschutes and a nearby recreation center that will include the city’s first
public ice rink.
Add to the mix that Deschutes County, with Bend leading
the way, has just been named the fastest growing county in Oregon, growth which also brings related
pressure on streets, highways and other infrastructure.
The future vision for Mirror Pond
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| Mirror Pond of the Deschutes River framed by Fall foliage |
After
many months and numerous public meetings and surveys Bend City Council has
approved in principle a plan that would retain many features of Mirror Pond on
the Deschutes River, while also involve removing an the existing small
hydroelectric dam and redevelopment of properties along the stream into mixed
use residential, office and retail facilities.
As
envisioned the plan would entail the city acquiring the current dam property
from the utility PacificCorp. and financing redevelopment of that and other
downtown city property in a public-private partnership.
Thus
far PacificCorp. has yet to agree to selling the dam and property although
parks and other city officials have been meeting with power company
representatives.
OSU-Cascades: an emerging 4-Year campus
The
Oregon State University Cascades campus will admit its first freshman class of 100 students for
a 4-year degree in the Fall of 2015 as plans to build facilities on a 10-acre
site on Bend’s west side work their way through a legal challenge.
The
first year students will take classes and have the opportunity to live on the
existing shared OSU Cascaces-Central Oregon Community College campus.
The
initial Phase I site at NW Chandler Avenue and Century Drive was approved by
the City of Bend. But some residents acting under the umbrella organization,
Truth in Site, delayed the project with an appeal to the state Land Use Board
of Appeals. LUBA is expected to issue a decision in late April.
Assuming the university will move ahead with the initial 10-acre site it would then initiate the process for approvals in an adjacent 46-acre site to complete the campus with additional classroom, administration and student housing.
How and where should Bend grow?
Among
all the big issues facing Bend in 2015 the successful completion of its
state-required plan for how and where the city will grow may have the broadest
impact.
The
city, as with most larger municipalities in Oregon, must come up with a plan for expanding its
urban growth boundary to provide enough land to accommodate growth in 20-year
increments.
Bend
is already behind the curve after having earlier attempts remanded by the state
Department of Land Conservation and Development. The agency essentially said
the city did not adequately consider existing land for development within the
current boundary or provide for greater density.
There
is more urgency as Bend and Deschutes County’s population increases at a pace
greater than most Oregon cities. More affordable single family housing
inventory is scarce and the rental property vacancy rate is by some accounts
below 1% while rental costs reach historic levels.
As
a consequence of the state’s rejection of the city’s initial UGB plan in 2008, local
citizen and other members of advisory groups have scaled back from about 8,000 to a range of 1,000 to about 3,000 the
acreage that might be added to the city. A housing mix of 55% single family,
10% townhome-type and 35% multi-family units such as apartments is now being
considered.
By
some estimates more than 80% of Bend residential units constructed over the past
approximately six years were single family homes.
City
officials are also working on a plan that would channel greater density
development of mixed use including residential, retail and office development
to the east of the present downtown core along the Highway 97 - Third Street commercial corridor.
The Bridge Creek water project: City’s moving ahead
after legal battle
Although
it’s running several years behind the original plan, Bend’s expansion of its
water system is moving ahead with a favorable decision in US District Court.
The
Forest Service environmental impact statement regarding diverting water across
the federal agency’s managed land west of Bend adequately addressed key issues,
the court ruled in December.
Central
Oregon Land Watch promptly appealed the ruling to the often
enviromentalist-friendly Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Then an attorney for Land Watch initiated an attempt at mediation, according to reports in local
media.
At
issue with the opponents is whether expanding the city’s existing
groundwater wells to accommodate additional capacity would be more beneficial
to the environment and fish habitat than increased withdrawals from Bridge and
Tumalo Creeks to provide Bend’s domestic water. The city project involves replacing
aging pipe that diverts from the Tumalo Creek watershed, and construction of a
new water treatment filtration system.
The
project was formed after the federal Environmental Protection Agency warned
Bend it would need to design additional improvements in the system to address
problems with potential hazardous bacteria such as cryptosporidium.
"Play
to Live"-Bend’s new mantra for recreation projects
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| The Colorado Street dam is now history |
Anyone
crossing the Colorado Avenue Bridge on in early Spring of 2015 is an eyewitness
to a monumental and much anticipated change in the historic flow of the
Deschutes River through town.
A
dam built early the last century to hold logs for the city’s once thriving mill
is now gone and the site is busy with large cranes and other heavy equipment
moving rocks and other material to create the estimated $9.7 million “Colorado
Dam Safe Passage Project.”
When
complete, possibily in late Summer this year, the river will have three
channels including the centerpiece whitewater park with waves that can be
manipulated by computers inflating and deflating rubber bladders in the water.
Another
channel will be for casual river floaters and the third will be designed as
habitat for fish and other wildlife that use riparian areas.
At
Colorado and Simpson Avenue, only a block uphill from the river
project, construction crews are well along with site preparation for the new
multi-sports complex that will have a
seasonal ice rink for skating and hockey along with courts for pickleball,
basketball, volleyball, tennis and badminton. It’s also expected to open later
in 2015.
Bend Parks and Recreation has adopted the slogan "Play to Live" to describe the new project initiatives.
