Bend City Council Meeting - October 4, 2023: E-Bike Safety, Middle-Income Housing Pilot, Airport Tower, and Caraway Master Plan
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Bend City Council Work Session and Regular Meeting - October 4, 2023
The Bend City Council held a work session at 5:00 p.m. followed by a regular meeting at 7:00 p.m. on October 4, 2023, at City Hall. The work session included discussions on a youth advisory council, a safe streets for all event debrief, and a follow-up on e-bike safety with Representative Emerson Levy and Commute Options. The regular meeting addressed proclamations, public comments, a consent agenda, the Middle-Income Housing Pilot Program, airport projects, the Caraway Master Planned Development, and annexation. The council also approved development assistance agreements for the Bend Urban Renewal Agency.
Work Session - Schedule Requests
- Councilor Barb Campbell proposed exploring a Youth Advisory Council, noting that 23 other Oregon cities have similar councils. Two high school seniors had initiated the idea, and Campfire USA offered to organize a teen event. The council directed the stewardship subcommittee to begin discussions rather than scheduling a full work session.
- Councilor Ariel Méndez requested a debrief of the July "Safe Streets for All" workshop, which focused on transportation safety, particularly biking. The council referred this to the community building subcommittee for initial discussion.
E-Bike Roundtable Follow-Up (45 minutes)
- Representative Emerson Levy (HD 53) outlined three goals: clarifying state laws (unupdated since 1997), educating students, and improving infrastructure. She plans to introduce a priority bill in the 2024 short session that would align Oregon's e-bike definitions with federal law, prohibit kids 16 and under from using throttle e-bikes, and create an enforcement mechanism. She noted that e-bikes can be easily modified to reach speeds up to 74 mph, and current fines for helmet violations are only $25.
- Chief Kranz of Bend Police reported a "massive explosion" of e-bikes since May 2023, with increased collisions. Enforcement is limited because officers prioritize higher-speed vehicle incidents. He noted that some young riders have fled from stops, escalating to felony eludes.
- Brian Potwin, Executive Director of Commute Options, discussed education efforts: an e-bike law webinar in September, posters with QR codes linking to an online safety course in bike shops, and a new Safe Routes to School contract with the city. The online course license expires February 22, 2024, and funding is needed to move it to a learning management system. He also noted that the League of American Bicyclists' curriculum does not match Oregon law.
- Councilor Perkins requested the city serve as a central resource hub for e-bike safety information on its website, which the council supported. David Abbas, Transportation Director, highlighted infrastructure improvements for all users, including roundabouts, buffered bike lanes, and shared-use paths, noting that the transportation fee under discussion would support these efforts.
- Councilor Campbell noted that the Oregon MPO Consortium (representing 80% of the state's population) could support statewide legislation. Representative Levy committed to providing a memo of proposed changes.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Annie Goldner (Bend resident, 22 years) urged the council to prioritize street safety with TUF funds, sharing her son's death in a traffic accident in Brooklyn. She displayed a photo of his ghost bike.
- Sarah Moss (Southeast Bend Neighborhood Association) spoke about the Woodside Court development, requesting that the city help existing residents connect to a planned sewer extension by communicating early, accelerating the septic-to-sewer application, and reducing connection fees (approximately $10,000 per home).
- Christy Kimball (Orchard District, mother of two teenagers) spoke on behalf of Energize Bend, urging the council to accelerate home and building electrification to meet climate goals. She noted that 51% of Bend's emissions come from buildings and that RMI research shows 91% of Oregonians could switch to heat pumps with current grid capacity.
- Joshua Mooney (Bend resident) echoed the call for electrification, asking the city to electrify all city buildings, work toward electrifying half of existing housing, and require electrification in new construction.
Consent Calendar
- The council approved items A, B, C, E, and F unanimously. Item D was pulled for separate discussion.
- Item D: Authorized purchase of two UW56 Toolcat utility work machines from Bobcat of Central Oregon for up to $198,755.16. Funding came from streets funds and the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO). Council thanked the MPO. Lead time is approximately 6–8 months.
Discussion Items
6. Middle-Income Housing Pilot Program Fund Recommendations
- Housing Director Lynn McConnell and Middle-Income Housing Coordinator Carrie Bell presented the first-ever awards from the $500,000 pilot program, sourced from the general fund. The fund aims to incentivize housing for households earning 60%–120% of Area Median Income (AMI). The Affordable Housing Advisory Committee (AHAC) recommended three of four applications.
- Award Recommendations (as modified by council):
- Hiatus/Habitat partnership on Wilson Avenue: $75,000 for design and down payment assistance for one homeownership unit at 80%–120% AMI, deed-restricted for 30 years.
- Neighbor Impact Down Payment Assistance: $200,000 for up to five down payment loans (up to $40,000 each) for first-time homebuyers at 80%–120% AMI. Loans recycle to serve additional buyers.
- Hiatus at 445 North Penn Avenue: $225,000 contingent on the developer recording a deed restriction within 4 months to restrict rents of at least 18 units to households at up to 120% AMI for 10 years. If the condition is not met, council may reallocate the funds to other applications. This project originally was not recommended by AHAC due to uncertainty about deed restriction via the Multiple-Unit Property Tax Exemption (MUPTE). Council opted to include it with conditions.
- Woodside Court (Hayden Homes): Not funded. The project requested $225,000 for sewer infrastructure to enable 20 deed-restricted lots at 80% AMI, but council cited uncertainty about the septic-to-sewer timeline and lack of a committed affordable housing partner.
- Leverage: The approved projects leverage $342,200 (Hiatus/Habitat), $5 million (Neighbor Impact), and $20 million (Hiatus Penn) in additional resources.
- Councilor Perkins noted discomfort with overriding AHAC's recommendation without more input, but supported the change due to the leverage and innovation of the Hiatus Penn project.
7 & 8. Bend Municipal Airport Air Traffic Control Tower Design and Grants
- Senior Project Manager Matthew Jarislowski presented: Bend Airport is the busiest of the top 5 Oregon airports without a control tower, with 141,000 annual operations (380 per day). The tower will be 115 feet tall. The design contract with Morrison-Maierle is for up to $1,394,652.54, with a $205,347.46 amendment authority for the city manager.
- Two FAA grants accepted: $190,431 for infrastructure (Airport Infrastructure Grant) and $1.6 million for the Federal Contract Tower Grant (no local match). Total project cost is estimated at $15 million, with anticipated funding sources including $9 million in congressionally directed spending and $4.8 million from Connect Oregon. The biennial budget currently includes only the $1.6 million for design.
- Both items approved unanimously.
9. Caraway Master Planned Development (Second Reading)
- Councilor Broadman moved to amend the ordinance to reduce minimum lot sizes for triplexes and quadplexes in the RS zone to match the underlying zoning, as discussed in the previous meeting. The applicant agreed. The amendment passed, making this a first reading. A second reading will occur at the next meeting. Roll call vote: 6-0 (Councilor Perkins absent for roll call? Actually all present - vote was unanimous yes).
10. Caraway Annexation (Second Reading)
- Councilor Broadman moved to table this item to the next meeting to align with the Caraway Master Plan's second reading. Approved unanimously.
11. BendTel, Inc. Non-Exclusive Franchise (Second Reading)
- Roll call vote to approve the ordinance granting a non-exclusive franchise to BendTel, Inc. Passed unanimously.
Key Outcomes
- Middle-Income Housing Pilot Program: Council approved three awards totaling $500,000, with a contingency on the Hiatus Penn project for deed restriction.
- Airport Tower: Design contract and two FAA grants approved, moving the project toward construction by 2025.
- Caraway Master Plan: First reading approved with an amendment; second reading scheduled for the next meeting.
- Caraway Annexation: Tabled to coincide with the master plan's second reading.
- BendTel Franchise: Approved.
- Bend Urban Renewal Agency: Approved two development assistance agreements: Empire Construction and Development, LLC ($48,490) and TOMCO Electric, Inc. ($48,490) for infrastructure improvements at Juniper Ridge.
Council Reports & City Manager Updates
- Subcommittee updates: Stewardship discussed Envision Bend, the Coordinated Houseless Response Office, and ARPA funds. Community Building discussed Climate Friendly Areas (CFA) designation and three bond-funded projects (Butler Market, Uney, Portland Avenue) with cost overruns.
- Councilor Riley reported on the Neighborhood Street Safety Program kickoff and a TUF community event.
- Councilor Norris attended the Oasis Village groundbreaking.
- Councilor Campbell reported on the Southern Crossing Neighborhood Association meeting, including concerns about Chamberlain Street's connection to Reed Market.
- Mayor Keebler reported on the Strong Cities Conference, a Habitat for Humanity event with Senator Merkley, and the new bike wayfinding signs.
- City Manager Eric King presented the final bikeway wayfinding design (to be installed spring 2024), noted completion of the Ferguson project, and announced upcoming events: Central Oregon Villages open house (Oct 14) and Cleveland Commons groundbreaking (Oct 16). He also introduced Renee Mitchell as the new Communications Director.
Meeting Transcript
No, it's that it was going to have clothes on in public, but we can't be waving that thing around people. Okay. Let's go ahead and get started with our council work session. So we are starting with a couple of schedule requests and um start with you, Barb. Hi, everybody, I'm Barb Campbell, and I prefer she and her pronouns. And I am hoping that we can look into having a youth advisory council for the city of Bend. Um I handed out an illegible paper for you, and I did not hand out, I think it would have been seven or eight illegible papers, in order to make the point that two high school seniors approached me with this idea, and they have already been working. And this document came from them, and it is pages and pages long, and it just lays out every youth advisory county in this in the state. 23 other cities already have them and how they're organized, what kind of a format they run by. Um the other bit um uh I received an email from someone with Campfire USA, and they say that they could organize a teen event to talk about city government and encourage them to join a youth advisory council if it was um passed. So the reason I gave you the papers is because this is not in our goals, it's not on our work plan. But we have this bit of energy and momentum from specifically two high school seniors who are going to graduate at the end of the year. And now we've heard from Campfire USA that they would like to be involved. So I'm hoping we can have a work session on this maybe by the end of the year, and hopefully get this ball rolling next year, and that is my request. Okay. Um my question for Eric is to have a work session by the end of this year, would we need to remove something else or how would we have staff be able to present something to us? I mean, if you're looking for staff to present something for this work session, I don't know if we could do it by the end of this year. If you're looking to have a forum for for high school students that are doing research to share that, that's probably something that we can do. Um I just would need to look at the schedule to see what's available. It'd probably be that last meeting in December. I think we're pretty booked up until then with work sessions. And obviously, the general request is could we have a work session? And yes, if we can get it somewhere on our schedule in a way sooner rather than later. That would be appreciated by all of us. And certainly last week in December, it sounds well as long as we're not I guess I just want to be clear with council that we're not asking for staff support at for something like this at this time. If it's just if it's just high school students sort of presenting research, that is fine, but we are just really bugged. We have a compensation committee, we've got um uh our just many things on our work plate that are all converging right now. We've got some pretty big policy work with the TUF for the SDCs, and I just want to make sure staff stays focused on those projects. I think that if there's a way for us to I I agree with what Council Mendez said about it aligning with the um identifying new ways to reach out and engage the community. I mean, is there a way to sort of um cut to doing something a little bit faster and have sort of a round table kind of format as a first try and maybe you know, without having to do a full work session, but that is us having a listening session and talking about both issues as well as what they see as potential ways we might continue something like that and just try something in the first quarter of next year or the second quarter of next year without too much investment of staff time with preparing for whole. Is it Campfire Central Oregon? Right, our local campfire that reached out, yes, um, which is an organization I'm familiar with, and they have great team programs where they're already engaging with teens. So I think what I would support is maybe not a work session, but if we can get a partnership with them to set up a listening session, perfect and to talk about some of this information and what might be meaningful for these ways for them to engage because I'm not sure that a traditional committee as we do them is the best way. So there may be other ways that they think would be best for them to talk with us, and I'd also um love to talk with the school board, they have a youth um group that is communicating with their leadership, and I want to hear how that's going as well. So that'd be something that could make it faster. Was we have a um uh stewardship subcommittee, which you're a part of part of it, and it might be just that might be a great venue over the next couple of times. To have and your counselor Riley is as well, and they could just have a con you could just have a conversation there versus a full-on work session and all of that. So if we just do that, that might be a little bit easier to start the conversation. That's great. Yeah, and then we can have these students actually telling us what they think about the eight-page list of other yaks and how they operate and what might work in central Oregon. And yes, mayor, I think that in some level school board, um school district would be involved, but whether it's a single central committee or the schools have their own, you know, are sending reps of there are a number of what different ways to do it. But I think that's a great idea. How about stewardship committee? Everybody okay with that? I think that's a good idea. Okay, I think that's great. Thank you, everybody. Appreciate it. Great. Okay.
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