A Senate Bill allowing an expedited expansion of urban growth boundaries for qualifying cities is moving closer to implementation in Bend. The Bend City Council presented two potential site options for consideration at a Nov. 20 meeting.
The sites considered for this UGB expansion, creating both affordable and market-rate housing, include Jasper Ridge, near the east side of Bend, and Caldera Ranch, located near the southeast part of town.
The two locations differ slightly in size and location, but both meet the requirements of the legislation allowing this expansion. In 2024, the Oregon Senate passed the Emergency Housing Stability and Production package to expedite the creation of affordable housing by making it easier for Oregon cities to create infrastructure and support housing production.
SB 1537, part of that package, gives qualifying cities the ability to undergo a one-time UGB amendment of up to 100 net residential acres. According to City staff members, a traditional UGB expansion can take several years to develop, plan and put into action. The expansion outlined in the bill would streamline the process.
According to the bill, the expansion site must include 30% of affordable units for two different households – 80% of the area median income, or $83,750 annually, for rent or 130% of the annual median income, or $136,110 annually, for sale. The bill also requires the site to be adjacent to the UGB, have a diversity of housing types and sizes and have a mix of both residential and commercial development.
The Jasper Ridge Site, the larger proposal of the two, encompasses about 132 acres and sits north of Highway 20, south of Neff Road and west of Hamby Road. This concept plan proposes 1,012 housing units in total with about 304 affordable units. The application for the Jasper Ridge proposal came from Oregon-based real estate and land acquisition firm, Crandall Group. The Caldera Ranch site, south of Knott Road and west of 15th Street/Tekampe Road, sits on 91.4 acres and proposes 700 total housing units with 238 reserved for affordable housing.
The proposal for Caldera Ranch came from AKS Engineering, an engineering consulting firm focused on developing infrastructure in the Pacific Northwest.
The City opened up an online open house for the public to provide input until Dec. 4 at 5pm. Community members can provide feedback, via email or in person at the Dec. 4 Bend City Council meeting. On Dec. 4, the Bend City Council will have the option to select a site and a council resolution is expected at the Dec. 18 City Council meeting.
This article appears in Source Weekly November 21, 2024.
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One time?!!!!!!!
You people have already moved the UGB around to suit the needs and desires of developers (Brooks Resources).
These people think we are blind?
The entire point of an UGB is simply that! To control sprawl!
This town is dead set on eating itself.
It makes no sense for the Bend City Council to pick a site or sites to expand the UGB when the Oregon Department of Forestry wildfire hazard map is pending and the release is expected in January. No one knows if the map hazard designations will change from when the draft was released earlier this year. If either of these properties has high wildfire hazard designations, homeowners will face new home hardening rules. Homeowners in Central Oregon are already worried that insurance rates will increase, or they will be dropped by insurance companies. Low income families will be greatly impacted by these changes causing fewer families to qualify for homes in these UGB expansion communities. Please ask the Bend City Council to pause their decision at council@bendoregon.gov