Prineville Residents Challenge Proposed UGB Expansion for Biomass Facility

Prineville community members are calling to halt a proposed urban growth boundary expansion intended to make room for a new energy source. The UGB expansion is set to pave the way for a biomass facility, accommodating space for the prospective project, among other expansion opportunities.

While the City Council is set to vote on the UGB expansion in the coming months, concerns regarding the City’s expansion process, and desire for a biomass facility, ramped up in recent weeks. Because of increased interest in the expansion, the vote on the proposal was delayed.

Biomass, a renewable organic material, can be burned for heat and electricity. Biomass sources can include wood, agricultural crops and waste. According to Prineville Mayor Jason Beebe, the proposed facility would run strictly on wood.

The City is exploring the renewable energy source to encourage economic opportunity in the future. According to Beebe, the City hopes it will create jobs while supporting local forestry and agricultural industries.

According to a City report citing the need for a UGB expansion, rising energy demand also presented the opportunity for the City to explore other sustainable energy solutions. While the City has some renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind, the City considers biomass energy as a viable option to supplement power.

Since 2007, the City has welcomed several large data centers — the largest of which are Apple and Meta data centers. According to a report from The Oregonian, data centers are requiring more electricity than ever due to the energy demands of artificial intelligence.

Beebe says data centers currently in Prineville have all the power they need for their sites. However, the biomass facility could provide a stable energy source to meet the growing demand of local industries, including more or expanded data centers.

While there’s a desire for creating this energy source, Beebe said the City doesn’t plan to build the biomass facility. Instead, it’s creating an opportunity for a company to come in and take on the project.

“We just wanted to start a project and put together a concept. We would keep moving forward on the details and the permitting processes to have a shovel-ready project for a private company,” Beebe told the Source Weekly.

“Ultimately, it was just to try to entice new business,” said Beebe, noting that manufacturing companies may be interested in locating there and having that power.

Despite the City’s ongoing plans for this expansion, and a biomass facility, some residents just learned of the proposed annexation in the last few weeks, causing frustration about the notification process.

The City planned to hold its public hearing, and the first of two votes on April 8. However, due to a desire for continued public comment, along with scheduling conflicts, the City Council decided to extend the public hearing, and first vote, for May 13.

During the public hearing on April 8, residents packed the house to share their concerns with the City Council.

“I get you want to expand and grow business in Prineville, and that’s great. All of us should have known about this,” said resident James Peterson at the April 8 public hearing. “I think this could have been handled a lot differently.”

On April 9, Prineville local Hunter Thompson started a petition, calling to halt the biomass facility and the UGB expansion. As of April 15, the petition had 534 signatures.

Central Oregon LandWatch, a nonprofit that acts as watchdog for land use issues, also stated its opposition to the UGB expansion. According to Robin Hayakawa, a staff attorney for LandWatch, the organization believes the City should have consulted the community more thoroughly, notifying more people, other than those within 750 feet of the expansion area.

“These are big properties out there, so that ended up being very few property owners. A lot of people were showing up at this hearing saying, ‘I only heard about this yesterday morning or last night,’” said Hayakawa. “We hope that [the City] is willing to give this the amount of consideration and public input that it deserves.”

According to City of Prineville Planning Director Josh Smith, the mailed notices went out on February 14.

Local resident Julie Thompson, who attended the public hearing, was frustrated about the lack of community input.

“It was really disturbing that nobody knew it was going to happen, and we were only less than a week from the City voting on it,” Thompson told the Source Weekly. “In this day and age, there should be more notifications, maybe on social media.”

Thompson hopes that the City will reconsider the UGB expansion and the biomass plant.

“Nobody wants that as their neighbor, and the air quality is a huge concern for a lot of people.”

While Mayor Beebe says the City has been public about its desire for both projects, he plans to delay the decision to allow time for residents to share their voices, due to the increase in opposition.

“We realized, ‘hey, we need to pause this for a little bit and talk to all the people and get questions answered,” Beebe said.

On April 12, Beebe said he met with residents to hear their concerns and help answer questions. In addition, the City also plans to continue its public hearing to allow residents more time to provide feedback.

“That gives us some time to research and ask questions and try to get answers for these people,” he said.

While a vote on the UGB expansion is looming, Beebe said it would likely be a few years before a biomass facility breaks ground. He still plans to look at other properties to see if there’s something else that would work better.

“These are just the first steps to ensuring we have the property available. It may be a few years down the road but, ultimately, the health concerns of the citizens here are what’s important to me,” Beebe said.

This article appears in Source Weekly April 10, 2025.