Bend Current, Newsletter for the Community, September 2022

Welcoming Week

Thank you for making Welcoming Week 2022 a success! The City of Bend celebrated Welcoming Week Sept. 9 – 18, 2022 with a series of community-organized events that highlight the principles of inclusion and create communities that prosper because everyone feels welcome. Events included a multi-cultural art exhibition, music, restorative community healing circles, discussions on accountability and justice and more!

Bend City Council Statement on the Safeway shooting of August 28

“Our community experienced terror and grief when a gunman opened fire at a local grocery store and took the lives of two of our community members and then himself.

We mourn for the victims, Glenn Edward Bennett and Donald Ray Surrett, Jr. We are heartbroken for their families and friends. We are grateful for Donald Surrett’s actions that horrific night to try to disarm the shooter, potentially saving many lives at the expense of his own.

We hold in our thoughts everyone who was there and experienced the trauma of a shooting in a place where people should feel safe getting their groceries.

We are thankful for the exceptionally swift response from the Bend Police Department, who were in the building within just a couple of minutes, running toward the shooting. Their actions were courageous. We appreciate the first responders from Bend Fire & Rescue who work to save lives in the worst imaginable moments. We thank every local law enforcement agency in the area for their collaboration. 

Our community has had its sense of safety shattered by this act of violence. Emotional distress and anxiety after an incident like this is normal. If you are struggling for any reason, please reach out to Deschutes County Behavioral Health.  Visit Deschutes County Health Services, Behavioral Health, or call 541-322-7500. Deschutes County also offers crisis support services.

Please support one another as we all process the wide range of emotions that we are all feeling right now, it may take time to heal. It’s certainly normal that it will take a lot of time. For many of us this trauma will be with us for the rest of our lives.

We are devastated that Bend has become the latest community to experience such gun violence, aimed at causing fear.

As leaders at the local level, we pledge to do everything in our power to advocate for the policies we need as a state and a country to curb gun violence and end the epidemic of mass shootings that plagues our community. Everyone deserves to feel safe from gun violence in our community.”

-Bend City Council

Transportation

Newport Dog Bone Opening

Crews are making progress on the Newport Corridor Improvements Project. The new dog-bone roundabout on Newport Avenue between 11th Street and 12th Street is now open to two-way traffic!

Continue to use caution as landscaping activities will continue in the area for several weeks. Full road closure and construction continues between 12th and 14th streets through October. As always, access will remain open to all your favorite businesses along Newport Avenue!

This two-year project that began in March 2021 is combining several types of needed infrastructure improvements, from replacing failing stormwater infrastructure and aging sewer and water pipes to improving safety and connectivity for all users. Project completion is estimated in spring 2023.

To learn more about the Newport Corridor Improvements Project head to bendoregon.gov/newportimprovements.

GO Bond Update

Projects, such as the Neighborhood Street Safety Program and the Midtown Crossings, on the voter-approved 2020 Transportation GO Bond are ramping up! The bond is funding priority projects in every part of the city to improve traffic flow, east-west connections and improve neighborhood safety.

Check out this video which highlights just a few of the exciting GO Bond projects happening around Bend. And you can always learn more about GO Bond projects at bendoregon.gov/gobond.

Key Routes

A key route is a path prioritized for low stress walking and biking. Creating 12 key routes is one of many projects being supported by the $190 million voter approved general obligation transportation bond voters passed in 2020.

Recently, Mayor Pro-Tem Anthony Broadman and city staff went on a bike tour to get a feel for potential key routes themselves.

Building out key routes will happen over the next few years. To encourage more walking and biking sooner, City staff are working on a project to o install additional signing, striping, and wayfinding to link one cross-town north south and one east west key route. This project is tentatively scheduled to be completed by the fall of 2023.

The City will work with the Oregon Department of Transportation, Bend Park & Recreation District and Deschutes County to develop a coordinated wayfinding plan to connect existing greenways, trails and shared use paths.

These initial routes aim to be comfortable for most people including older children but will have some sections that are less comfortable until the full bond project is built.

Check out a this map that shows future key routes.

Camping Code Update

The City Council is developing a Bend Municipal Code to regulate how, where and when people can camp on public property owned or controlled by the City, including public rights-of-way such as streets and sidewalks. These regulations will work in tandem with City strategies to increase the number of low-barrier shelter beds, support partners who provide services and increase the availability of affordable housing. The camping code development process includes opportunities for public education and engagement prior to and throughout drafting the code. In August, the City held two informational open houses that drew both in-person and virtual participants.

Next, we are including key stakeholder roundtable discussions and collecting additional input on the code. For updates on the camping code development, please visit bendoregon.gov/camping-code.

Review the draft camping code.

And, if you would like to learn more about how this camping code is being developed you can check out this month’s episode of Inside Bend!

Bend City Councilor Megan Perkins and Assistant City Attorney Ian Leitheiser discuss how the camping code is being developed, why it is being developed and how enforcement of the code will work.

You are not going to want to miss this episode! You can listen at bendoregon.gov/inside-bend or on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Spotify.

State Approves Conceptual Plan for new Neighborhood in Southeast Bend

A conceptual plan to develop the Stevens Road Tract, a 261-acre parcel of land located southeast of Bend just outside of city limits, was approved by the Department of Land Conservation and Development.

The Stevens Road Tract Concept Plan is one of many steps leading to the creation of a new neighborhood in Bend.

The land is currently owned by the State of Oregon and managed by the Oregon Department of State Lands. When the state sells these lands, the revenue goes into the state’s Common School Fund, which helps fund public K-12 education.

Next steps include making changes to the City of Bend’s planning documents like the Comprehensive Plan and expanding the Urban Growth Boundary to include the property. These actions will be taking place in early 2023 and involve public notice and hearings.

Learn more about the Stevens Road Tract Concept Plan.

The City Permit Center

The pandemic brought lots of change in the community, and the Community and Economic Development Department was not immune.

While other communities stagnated, Bend grew. And with the rapid growth and demand for already tight housing supply, housing development has become an even higher priority for the City.

The Permit Center, which processes the community’s permit applications for building, planning, engineering and licensing programs, saw a jump in applications while also experiencing a staffing shortage brought on by a COVID-19 related hiring freeze. The hiring freeze was instituted when the effect of the pandemic on the global and local economies was unknown.

Last year, the City reviewed more than 1,000 permits for new commercial and residential construction, which represents just a portion of all the permit applications that come through the Permit Center.

Around the same time, the City also rolled out new permitting software. These factors, along with the fact that development applications are often more complicated than they used to be due to new, more urban construction types, have all contributed to the community experiencing longer permit turnaround times.

A new dashboard aims to provide transparency around the average amount time it takes from complete application to having a permit in hand. The dashboard communicates to the public the data-driven perspective of the application review process and a realistic picture of what the customer may experience.

Check out the dashboard.

Save the Date!

Bend Fire & Rescue Open House

Join Bend Fire & Rescue in celebrating National Fire Prevention Week at the Bend Fire and Rescue Open House, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, October 15, 2022 at the North Fire Station, 63377 Jamison Street.

Free fun for the whole family!

• Meet your firefighters and emergency responders.
• Tour the fire station and climb aboard a fire engine.
• Watch the rescue team perform special operations.
• Witness a Bend Police Department K9 bite demonstration.
• See an Airlink Helicopter land and meet flight medics.

Learn about:

• Wildfire and home safety.
• Emergency preparedness from the American Red Cross.
• Health and wellness from St. Charles Health System.
• Hands-only CPR and how to stop bleeding emergencies.

Plus, delicious Eberhards Ice Cream for everyone!

For more information call 541-322-6300 or visit us at bendoregon.gov/fire.

City Quest at the Fest

Join the City of Bend from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 1 and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 2 at the Bend Fall Festival!

The City Quest at the Fest will be located on Oregon Avenue between Gasoline Alley and Wall Street. City booths will feature interactive displays, giveaways and information on the important services Bendites need, like the roads and sidewalks used to get around, the high-quality drinking water in our homes, and emergency services when we need them most.

Stop by to visit us and learn more about your City!

We Need Your Help!

We want to know how you think we can improve our website, bendoregon.gov. To participate, please complete this 5-minute survey. (Spanish version also available.)

This is just one piece of our research strategy. To find out more, visit bendoregon.gov/web-improvements.