By Anne Aurand

The Bend City Council is inviting the public to comment on proposed next steps for implementing the Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) plan. Public input will be taken during the Council’s regular business meeting at 7 p.m. on April 4, 2018. Written comments can also be submitted to Council@bendoregon.gov by 5 p.m. on Friday, April 13.
 
The decision to provide the opportunity for public comment arose from a March 21 work session presentation and discussion about the UGB plan’s implementation. Feasibility studies assessed areas within Bend’s UGB that are most ready for development based on land-use characteristics, property tax and system development charge revenues, infrastructure capacity and costs, and input from taxing districts and City departments.  The full analysis is here.
 
The City Council requested an opportunity for public comment on the proposed UGB implementation prior to giving direction on how to proceed. Councilors are expected to provide direction on UGB implementation during their April 18 regular business meeting.
 
In November 2016, the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development approved the UGB plan for the City of Bend. The plan is a blend of infill and expansion. The expansion added 2,380 acres of land for housing and employment to the City's UGB. Changes will arise gradually inside the current boundary and in the expansion areas.
 

We have some concerns. We share a boundary with the Southwest Neighborhood Association that includes the Central Oregon Irrigation District. My husband and I and many of our neighbors walk our dogs daily on the COID property to the Deschutes River Trail. This piece of property is a wonderful asset and Bend is a wonderful place to live. However, we have been overwhelmed with recent developments including a 185 unit, a 4-story apartment building on Bradbury next to the Pavilion, 120-unit 3-story apartment building at the end of Reed Lane. In addition, the planning department is looking to future developments of 30 homes along Silver Lake, 20 across from Blakely Park and approximately 20 more with the development of the corner lot of Reed Lane and Silver Lake. Not counting the Pavilion, this equates to approximately 700 new people with about 500 new cars in this small triangle, along with the recent opening of the Memory Care facility.
 
There have been rumors about a secret sale of the COID property to a national developer for a potentially large housing development. Since we are (barely) outside of the boundary we are not receiving land use notices about the development. Nothing has been discussed at our monthly Neighborhood Association Round Table (NART) meetings, which has changed its focus since we have been working on becoming a city codified Neighborhood Leadership Alliance (NLA). We know that we can’t stop development since it is entirely legal when the developer builds according to the zoning code. Neighborhood Associations are created and encouraged to participate in the required public processes to help ensure that the development is in compliance with the livability and character of Bend. After all, Bend is an “attitude” as Developer Bill Smith likes to say.
 
Our greatest concerns are that we are having huge growing pains and are concerned about outsiders who are only interested in making a profit. The state, city, and county have not been keeping up with Bend’s transportation infrastructure needs. Bend is designed for two-lane roads and the development is far exceeding our transportation infrastructure. Everybody talks about Bend not wanting to become a Portland or Seattle, but the land use laws are the same in Bend as they are in Portland and Seattle. We think different cities should have land use laws that are unique to the region and that cities should have limits to growth as to how large a city can be according to its natural resources to be sustainable. In my livability research, I have learned that many Canadian Provinces have limits as to how large cities can grow.
 
Our Association met with Bend’s Growth Management Director Nick Arnus and Communications Manager Joshua Romero at our March Public Board Meeting. At that meeting, our association collectively decided that in order to make a difference that we have to go all the way to Salem and LUBA to make a difference. We would like to hear your thoughts.
 
The Southern Crossing Neighborhood Association meets third Thursdays at 6 pm. Our next public board meeting is scheduled for April 19. We meet at 61478 Duncan Lane, Bend, OR. We have invited executives of Central Oregon Land Watch to be our special guests. More to come...

Valerie Pharr
Chairwomen | Southern Crossing Neighborhood Association

​By Anne Aurand
 
The Bend City Council authorized about $5 million for street preservation work in Bend this summer.
 
This included a $4.7 million agreement with Knife River Corporation that will improve 47 lane miles with grind-and-inlay and overlay treatments. This will include work on some high-use streets including Third Street between Wilson Avenue and Badger Road, Mount Washington between Shevlin Park Road and Chandler Avenue and some areas of downtown that weren’t treated last summer. Much of this work will occur at night to minimize disruptions to the public.
 
The Council also approved a $334,334 contract with Intermountain Slurry Seal, Inc. for slurry seal treatments on about 34 lane miles around the City.
 
The attached map shows a variety of types of treatments that will occur on Bend roads. The City’s “Keep Good Roads Good” philosophy means we maintain and preserve streets with the most cost-effective treatment for the road condition — the right treatment at the right time. Treatments include:
 

• Inlays and Overlays – Old asphalt is ground out and replaced or a new layer of asphalt is paved on top of existing roadway. The process can take a couple of days.
• Slurry – A treatment for low-volume residential streets. One-day closures typically expected.
• Chipseals – Hot oil and rock are applied to the road. Rolling, short term closures expected.

 
A road’s conditions help the City determine maintenance plans. Arterial and collector streets are highest priority. Street preservation treatments can include chip seal, slurry seal, grind-and-inlay or overlay treatments, depending on the severity of the road degradation. The worst roads need full reconstruction. Reconstruction is exponentially more expensive than maintenance, not an efficient use of maintenance funds and more likely to be paid for as part of a larger Capital Improvement Program.