NLA Moving Forward

With the Oct. 17 City Council check-in looming, the newly formed Neighborhood Leadership Alliance is working on what it may present as projects it can have signed off by the Bend City Council. One objective of the 2017 to 2019 Council Goals: to modernize and professionalize how City government operates by increasing the capacity of the neighborhood association system—hence the formation of the NLA.

During its Sept. 6 meeting, the NLA considered three ideas to propose to the City Council: land use notifications, transportation security and a broader participation plan for the neighborhood associations.

NLA members want to improve the city's land-use notification policies. Currently, the city requires developers to send letters to neighborhood association land-use chairs and property owners who live near by proposed developments to hold public meetings for comment.

City Councilor Bill Moseley, the Council's NLA liason, said land-use is a nine-month study due to all of the processes involved. "I think it's a thorny mess," he said during the meeting.

Dave Johnson, who worked on the formation of the NLA and is the representative for the Old Farm District, said the NLA is severely underfunded because the funding comes from the number of lots, not the number of doors in an area. He said the funding only covers about two general meetings and three mailings per year, per neighborhood association.

The NLA meets one more time on Sept. 26 before its first presentation to the City Council.