After
two years and an estimated $2 million in consulting fees, staff time and other
costs the City of Bend’s latest effort to establish a long-term growth plan has
been approved unanimously by the city council and is now on the way for review
and action by the Deschutes County commission.
At
the conceptual heart of the state-mandated Urban Growth Boundary plan are provisions
that would result in substantially increased density within the city’s current perimeter
and reduce the percentage of single familty homes from 75% to 55% of the housing
inventory.
The
remaining housing would be comprised of 10% single family “attached” housing,
such as townhomes and condos, and 35% multi-family, or apartments.
Altogether
the plan envisions 13,000 new housing units by 2028 with approximately 2,300
acres brought into the city.
The
current plan has been in the works since the Oregon Land Use and Development
Commission “remanded” a 2008 plan that would have added about 8,000 acres to the
city. The LCDC said the earlier plan did not include sufficient development on
available land already within the city boundary.
To
pave the way for additional multi-family construction the council at its Sept
21 session passed an ordinance that would allow builders to defer system development
charges (SDCs) until a certificat of occupancy is issued.
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