With
Fall on the horizon is it time to dust off football buzzwords and ask if Bend
could be in the "redzone" with the city’s much-delayed and expensive attempt to
gain state approval of a new Urban Growth Boundary and plan?
On
August 25 the city and Deschutes County held a nearly all-day joint session to
hear public comments on the almost final plan that has been years in the works
since the state Land Conservation and Development Commission bounced an earlier
effort back “on remand.”
That
decision by LCDC, the agency in charge of overseeing state-mandated growth
management under SB 100 passed in the 1970s, essentially determined that rather
than growing outward Bend must plan for higher density with its current boundary.
Part of that effort should be building on as-yet undeveloped “infill” land.
For
some residents, higher density runs contrary to what they consider Bend’s charm
as a smaller urban center with elbow room, characteristics that in some cases
have attracted urban refugees and retirees who have fueled the real estate
market.
However
with a population that has boomed from about 20,000 in the late 1980s to an
estimated nearly 85,000 in 2016, the municipal hub of Central Oregon may
already outrun the “small-town” niche.
As
summarized in a staff report the current UGB proposal calls for expansion of
about 2,300 acres, compared with the 8,900 acres proposed in 2009. LCDC
returned that plan in late 2010, thereby triggering a multi-year effort which
the city estimates has cost nearly more than $2 million in planning and related
expenses.
Of
the expanded city acreage, the staff report says 1,142 acres would be for new
residential land, including schools and parks, 815 for development of employment
sectors, 285 for public facilities and 138 in existing rights of way.
A
key feature of the UGB proposal would be development of areas that would
integrate higher density residential, such as apartments and condos, with
businesses. It would encourage apartments or condos above retail shops, as one
example. This type of development has already gained some traction within the
Bend downtown core.
Looking
out to 2028, the target date for the plan to be implemented, the city could
conceivably gain about 17,000 new homes and 21,000 jobs, nearly three-fourths
of those within the current urban boundary.
As
for the timing, assuming the plan is adjusted slightly in the near-term then
submitted to the state, it may still be many months or even years before actual
development of identified infill and expansion land begins. In many cases,
development would require rezoning, new public and private infrastructure
investment, permits and—not insignificant—favorable economic conditions.
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| Expansion areas identified in the 2016 UGB plan
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