Redmond Council and Mayor Candidates Weigh in on Growth, Data Centers, Water at Forum

With the Nov. 3 general election about one month away, candidates running for Redmond City Council and mayor discussed growth and development, water use, data centers and more at a forum hosted by the League of Women Voters Sept. 30 at the Central Oregon Community College technology education building in Redmond.

Candidates had a minute and a half to answer each of a series of questions the league sourced from the public. A field of five candidates is running for three seats on the City Council. Tobias Colvin, Katherine Osborne and Paul Povey were in attendance. Raven Hansen and Barbara Tate are also running, but Hansen called out due to a work trip and Tate was out of the country, according to Carol Loesche, an organizer with the league.

Mayor candidates Jay Patrick, Ed Fitch and Charles Baer followed.

City Council

Early in the forum, City Council candidates were asked which specific water conservation policies they would support. The City is facing uncertainty about securing additional municipal water rights in the future amid declining underground aquifer levels in the Deschutes Basin due to drought, increased demand and canal piping projects.

Colvin, Osborne and Povey all said they support the recently adopted tiered rate structure, which raised rates for bigger water users, and wanted to look at other ways to incentivize conservation, although none made specific suggestions. Povey said conservation measures are needed, but said he believes the aquifer might also start “replenishing itself” eventually.

“At some point it might come back around and start filling itself back up,” said Povey, who runs a land surveying company in Redmond. Hydrologists and state regulators don’t expect the aquifer levels to rise naturally anytime soon.

The discussion on water led to another about whether Redmond should consider new policies on data centers.

All of the candidates agreed that data centers shouldn’t be sited in Redmond due to the lack of water. Osborne, who is seeking a second term on the City Council, said the City should have a “real discussion on a moratorium” on data centers.

But candidates all said they wanted to support the vision of building out an industrial hub on the east side of Redmond.

When asked about balancing Redmond’s growth while maintaining the City’s character, Colvin, a former councilor and general manager of the SCP Hotel, called preserving downtown’s feel his “key issue.”

“I want it to feel like Redmond in five, 10, 50 years,” he said. “To have that downtown core feel like a Hallmark movie, that has all the people walking around and enjoying being outside,” he said, adding, “There is a lot of forces that could go the opposite direction.”

Both Colvin and Osborne described the Northpoint Vista project in northeast Redmond as a good example of how the City has helped encourage construction of less-expensive housing. There, the state allowed the City an exception to bypass urban growth boundary planning rules under the requirement that at least 30% of the new housing in the 450-home neighborhood be restricted to certain incomes.

“We’ve got some really exciting opportunities coming down the line, but we need to wait, see how it works, take some of those lessons and implement what works,” Osborne said.

When it comes to housing, Povey said the City should do more to help the “small guys,” referring to smaller lot-property developers as opposed to large regional developers building master-planned neighborhoods.

“We’ve gotta feed big housing, but we’ve also gotta help out with the little guys and find a way for them to develop their property like they used to be able to do, because people are priced out these days,” Povey said.

Mayor

Each of the candidates also ran for mayor in 2022. Fitch won that race and has served consecutive two-year terms as mayor. Now he’s seeking a final, four-year term after voters extended term lengths and set term limits in 2024.

Fitch said the City has done a good job navigating issues like water scarcity, homelessness and increased traffic under his tenure. He said free discussion is one key.

“When you open it up and invite everyone to have their piece and their say in issues facing our community, you can build consensus that way,” he said. “What we’ve accomplished in the last four years is really the proof in the pudding of why I should be mayor and lead the Council for the next four years.”

Patrick has served on the City Council for 26 years, and said his style of leadership would be better for the City.

“Leadership matters,” Patrick said. “I believe I’m a more collaborative, team-minded, building trust type of leader.”

Baer, a perennial candidate for local office, is an advocate for depopulationism, or policies limiting childbirth. He presented a handful of other eccentric ideas during Wednesday’s forum, including building a six-lane or light rail bypass train miles east of Bend and Redmond and a new homeless facility in Millican, a ghost town 25 miles east of Bend.

“I think that I would be the best mayor for Redmond. I’ve said this in 2020, 2022, 2024 and 2026, because I feel that it’s true. I feel I’ve got a good vision for the future, for Redmond and for the whole planet.”

Fitch said he wouldn’t be in favor of adjusting System Development Charges for affordable housing. SDCs are fees that builders pay to help fund infrastructure like roads, water and sewer.

“Those things are essential to the safety of our people,” Fitch said. “If you don’t have the money, they’re just not going to get done. Would I prefer that we be able to waive some of the SDCs for affordable housing, no, because they have the same impact on infrastructure as anyone else. Are there other ways to financially benefit affordable housing, yes.”

Patrick said he would be open to looking at fees the City is charging other than SDCs that add to housing prices.

“They keep on going up, little bit by little bit, and you start adding all those pieces together,” he said.

He said he sees ways the City could be better about building the proper roads to handle growth.

“We’re really good at building houses, and building apartments, and shoving them all on small little lots. We follow the rules of the state pretty well. What we don’t do is build roads like we should. I think there are a few missteps that we’ve made, not terrible, but a few.”

When asked about homelessness, Patrick said solving the issue isn’t possible within the City’s means. He has voted against funding for the new 36-space managed homeless camp in east Redmond.

“I believe we need to help people. As a Council, we also need to be good stewards of tax dollars,” he said Wednesday. “Managing homelessness is never the answer. It’s figuring out what causes the homelessness, and fixing that, and that’s a big job.”

Fithc said investments in homeless services like the managed camp were a requirement for the City to pass regulations keeping homelessness away from residential areas and downtown.

But those investments are “a choice we want to make anyway,” he said.

“There are people out there who need a lot of help,” he said.