UPDATE: As of February 18 Bend city planners say there is no longer an active application for development of the Compass Corner site. More details in the future.
Proposed projects at different
points on Bend’s Awbrey Butte are focusing a debate over affordable housing,
the impacts of high density and multi-family units in traditional single
family neighborhoods--and related new city development code provisions.
Comments by residents regarding
proposals by separate developers for the West View project on Glassow Drive on
the west side of the butte and Compass Corner on the northeast side both emphasize
that the scale and traffic impacts would be detrimental to existing
neighborhoods.
However, both proposed projects appear
to fit an emerging city strategy to encourage more multi-family and higher
density housing in neighborhoods otherwise zoned RS, for standard single family
homes.
Latest versions of the city code follow
Oregon’s new statute, House Bill 2001, intended to force higher density in single
family neighborhoods, with the objective of easing the crunch of escalating housing
costs beyond affordability levels for many families.
Among new code provisions is the
potential to build up to a quadraplex on a lot of at least 4,000 square feet in
a typical neighborhood of single family homes. The code would also downsize current
requirements for off street parking.
As the provisions take effect, homeowners
in some neighborhoods have begun to review requirements in their covenants, conditions,
and restrictions, or CCRs, that stipulate what type of housing can be built. In
theory, CCRs restricting construction to only a single family home would supersede
the city code, but legal action might be required to enforce the CCRs.
One of the two Awbrey Butte projects
gaining much attention is Compass Corner, proposed as a mixed use development for
as many as 63 studio, 1 and 2 bedroom apartments, up to four floors including retail
space. Parking would be above and below ground on the 1.02 acre site overlooking
Mt. Washington Boulevard and bordered by Awbrey Road
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| Compass Corner concept plan |
NW.
County records show the site is owned by Hotel Management LLC, with a registered agent at the same address as that for owners of the recently opened My Space hotel off Bond Street above the Old Mill District. The registered agent is Sueng Lee, at the same address, while LLC members and addresses on the Oregon business registry include Michael Chun of Bend; Anthony Kim of Federal Way, WA; and Shilla Yi of Tacoma, WA.
In a January online presentation, representatives of the development team fielded comments from area residents who complained the several story buildings were out of scale for the neighborhood, would create traffic hazards and result in parking spilling onto narrow streets.
Some commented online that neighbors should hire an attorney to oppose the project, as was done by owners in the Rivers Edge community who appear to have prevented the golf course there from being developed for housing. (links to Rivers Edge
Homeowners play a good round at Rivers Edge course
Trading golf for homes: Rivers Edge proposal raises future housng issues
The project vision appears to have
expanded considerably since the city posted a “pre-application meeting summary”
of the proposal in February of 2021. That document noted a project to include 35,000
square feet of apartments and 5,000 square feet commercial, up to four stories
with surface parking.
Now in the proposal under
consideration by the city as of November 2021, Compass Corner would include 63
apartments in two buildings with up to 10,000 square feet of commercial space.
The two buildings would total more than 57,000 square feet along with
underground and surface parking.
A little over two miles on the other
side of Awbrey Butte some neighbors are mobilizing with yard signs to oppose the
6.5 acre West Hill Development that would include 42 units of townhomes, duplexes,
triplexes, and quadraplexes on 29 lots. It could also result in removal of more
than 700 trees.
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| West Hill on Glassow overview |
In a guest column in the Bend Bulletin, one resident wrote that,” The objection is not over development per se...The concern is over the scale of the project and the lack of fit with the surrounding neighborhoods, physical environment and supporting infrastructure.”
Taking a stance more favorable to the project, another writer responding in a column that, “To complain about housing in your neighborhood (and mine) that does basically the same things that the building of your home did is peak entitlement. Being against the development because it doesn’t exactly mirror what is currently there, despite the law allowing such development, only compounds the cost of building and the shortage of housing.”
Principals of the West View project are members of Oregon Builders Developers LLC Glenn Kotara and Mark Huffman, both who have Bend mailing addresses.
By mid-January of 2021, neither Compass Corner nor West View had come before the city planning commission for review, which would be a step before going to the Bend city council.
With Compass Corner a conditional use permit allowing an exception to maximum size on the site would be required. And it’s possible the issues swirling around both projects could result in both being considered by a hearing officer after public sessions.
Although not yet in the development planning stage, another site in the same Awbrey Butte area of Compass Corner could also become part of the density discussion.
At the northeast corner of NW Sonora and Awbrey Road are two lots, one of 0.20 acre and another of 0.14 acre which were listed in January, and became pending sales in 24 days, as potential sites for duplexes on each property. The site is at the southern intersection of the neighborhood served by streets linking to Compass Corner and abuts an often busy roundabout at a sloped point on Awbrey Road.
