The
protracted land use review of a proposed apartment complex on Bend’s westside
is now putting two of the region’s leading developers on opposite sides as the
process is now in the hands of the state’s Land Use Board of Appeals.
Bill
Smith, founding principal of William Smith Properties, filed an appeal with
LUBA on April 11 of a hearing officer’s March approval of a propoal to build a
170-unit apartment complex on an approximately 3-acre site along Shevlin Park
Road overlooking the city’s new whitewater park.
Seattle-based
Evergreen Housing has proposed the project on land now owned by Brooks
Resources, the real estate development company that grew out of the historic
Brooks-Scanlon timber mill operation.
Smith
is developer of the well-known mixed use Old Mill District, once the site of
the historic mill. Brooks and partners have developed such well-known Bend
projects as Northwest Crossing, Awbrey Butte and North Rim as well as Black
Butte Ranch west of Sisters.
City
of Bend planning staff had initially approved the project as an administration
decision in that it met zoning and applicable city development code
requirements.
But
Smith and neighboring residents objected to the project’s scale and location,
convincing the city to send the issue to a public hearing.
After multiple days of testimony the
hearing officer ruled in favor of Evergreen, and the city council declined to review the decision, opening the way for Smith’s appeal.
Brooks
Resources has intervened on behalf of the City of Bend, the respondent to the
appeal. Bend land use attorney Liz Fancher represents Smith Properties.
