Faced
with making a controversial decision regarding a proposed westside apartment
complex the Bend City Council opted to push the matter up the regulatory
ladder.
On
March 20 the council voted not to hear an appeal by Old Mill District
developer Bill Smith of a hearing officer’s March 7 approval of Seattle-based
Evergreen Development’s plans for a 170-unit apartment complex overlooking the
Deschutes River at the Colorado Avenue bridge.
That
leaves Smith and his attorney, Liz Fancher, 21 days from March 20 to appeal the
hearing officer’s ruling to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals, LUBA, the
state agency with authority to review local land use decisions. Smith has argued that the approximately 3-acre
property is more appropriate for a hotel or similar development and is out of scale
for the site.
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| Early rendering by BLRB Architects |
The
apartment proposal has stoked considerable oppostion from neighboring residents
who claim the project would create traffic congestion, burden onstreet parking and
cast shadows over Mckay Park and the new whitewater park across Shevlin Avenue.
But
proponents say it could alleviate an already squeezed multi-family housing
shortage and is more in line with the state’s approval of Bend’s urban growth
bounday (UGB) plan to develop existing propery within city limits.
The
site is zoned mixed use riverfront, or MR, and the hearing officer concluded
that Evergreen’s plans complied with the current land use requirement. However,
the officer ruled against Evergreen’s request for a variance that would have increased
the building height by five feet over the 45-foot limit in the city’s
development code.
As
of Thursday, April 5, an official at the state LUBA office said it had not
received an appeal related to the project.
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