Bend City Council Meeting and Work Session - December 20, 2023
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Bend City Council Meeting and Work Session - December 20, 2023
The Bend City Council held a work session starting at 6:00 p.m. followed by a regular meeting at 7:00 p.m. on December 20, 2023. The work session focused on the Climate Friendly Areas (CFA) study, a state requirement due by year-end. The regular meeting included a public hearing for the Magnolia Meadows annexation, approval of several infrastructure contracts, adoption of parking regulation amendments, and council reports.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes: Minutes from the December 6, 2023 work session and regular meeting, and the October 11, 2023 Transportation Roundtable #3 were approved.
- OLCC Report: Accepted.
- CORE 3 IGA: Intergovernmental Agreement for the Central Oregon Ready, Responsive, Resilient Project approved.
- Street Name Change Initiation: Initiated a street name change in the Timber Yards Master Plan area.
- Street Sweepers Purchase: Authorized purchase of two street sweepers from Elgin Sweeper Company for up to $830,450.40.
Public Comments & Testimony
- James Gabriel (in-person): Claimed city-contracted work caused $112,000 in foundation damage to his home; urged city to take responsibility to avoid litigation.
- Gary Miller (online): Stated the city's denial of airport ground lease extensions since October has halted hangar sales and projects, causing economic disruption; asked council to resolve the issue.
- Joanne Mina (online): Criticized the Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day proclamation, stating the city has failed to provide safe parking and has swept homeless individuals; called for a ceasefire proclamation in Palestine and more representation of directly impacted people on the Human Rights and Equity Commission.
Discussion Items
- Work Session – Climate Friendly Areas (CFA) Study: Long-range planning staff presented a draft study identifying 10 candidate CFAs to accommodate 15,366 housing units (30% of future need) on 275–350 acres. Two designation scenarios were discussed: a centralized option (332 acres) and a varied option (480 acres). Community engagement favored a varied approach. The study is a non-binding exploration; designation will occur in 2025–2026 as part of a larger growth plan. Council discussed market feasibility, displacement risk, and the need to coordinate with transportation planning.
- Magnolia Meadows Annexation (Public Hearing): A quasi-judicial hearing on annexing 19.26 acres in the Southeast Area. The applicant (Hayden Homes) proposes 151 residential lots (103 single-family, 48 townhomes). Staff found the proposal consistent with the Southeast Area Plan and annexation criteria. The annexation agreement includes utility and transportation provisions. No public testimony was offered. Council approved first reading of the ordinance.
- Awbrey Butte Distribution Improvements GMP #2: Authorized a $20,503,664.26 contract amendment with K&E Excavating for construction of a 9,000-foot water transmission main and related improvements. The project addresses aging infrastructure and fire flow capacity. Council approved the amendment.
- Midtown Multimodal Connections & Streetscaping: Authorized a progressive design-build agreement with K&E Excavating for $2,443,428.36. Scope includes 100% design of Greenwood Quick Build, Second Street improvements, Franklin Corridor refinement, and Hawthorne Overcrossing concept development. Synergy opportunities include water main replacement and stormwater treatments. The project aims to catalyze development in the core area.
- Hawthorne Avenue Overcrossing IGA: Authorized the City Manager to sign an agreement with ODOT allowing ODOT to administer the project (federal RAISE grant of ~$19.5M plus $5M state lottery bonds). City commits a local match of up to $4,890,000. The city will complete concept design and public outreach before handing to ODOT. Construction is targeted for completion by end of 2027.
- CFEC Parking Regulations (Second Reading): Adopted text amendments to the Comprehensive Plan and Development Code implementing state rules on parking maximums and evaluation. The ordinance passed with a roll call vote (all ayes).
Key Outcomes
- Consent Agenda: Approved unanimously.
- Magnolia Meadows Annexation: First reading of the ordinance approved; final adoption expected at a later meeting.
- Awbrey Butte GMP #2: Approved (motion by Councilor Riley, second by Councilor Broadman, unanimous).
- Midtown PDB Agreement: Approved (motion by Councilor Norris, second by Councilor Campbell, unanimous).
- Hawthorne Overcrossing IGA: Approved (motion by Councilor Riley, second by Councilor Norris, unanimous).
- CFEC Parking Regulations: Adopted by roll call (all ayes).
- Appointments: Approved reappointments and new appointments to various boards and commissions.
- Council Reports: Councilors reported on committee meetings including the Community Building Subcommittee, Landmarks Commission, Right-of-Way Listening Session, BDAB, Latino Community Association event, Environment and Climate Committee, COCC legislative summit, Accessibility Advisory Committee, Old Bend Neighborhood Association, MPO, CAV Board, Coordinated Houseless Response Office, Human Rights and Equity Commission, and Affordable Housing Advisory Committee.
- City Manager’s Report: Noted Phase 2 of permitting process improvement launched, and that north end work will start after the new year to avoid holiday disruption.
Meeting Transcript
I'm sorry, I'm hearing unless you get order the city council work session. And uh first on the agenda today is a presentation on from growth growth management on climate friendly Iris. Welcome. Uh, Brian Rankin, your long-range planning manager, and joining me tonight at the table. We have two members of our growth management team. It's their first presentation to council, so they're very excited about this. So let me introduce them to you very quickly. So um excited for them to present um to you on the climate friendly areas study. We have Elise Vukolic, who is to my right. And then we have Jennifer now. Um senior planner in our growth management division. Uh, both of them, I just want to recognize them first of all because when we started this work in-house a year ago, you know, you imagine these were fresh rules, right? There were no other examples really out there on how to do this. And so both of them shown a tremendous amount of tenacity and uh grit and simply learning this and then executing on what I think is um hopefully um a really really fantastic example of a climate-friendly area study that can be used as an example statewide. That's kind of our hope and intention. Uh but they both brought you know a tremendous amount of energy and passion to this work. Um Elise was the project manager, so she had the fun of herding all the city cats and keeping everything aligned, and then Jennifer was the point on our engagement, and uh she did a fantastic job of really getting out there and working with the community um on this topic and other topics. So after that quick introduction, I just wanted to put this presentation and the project into perspective for you. So climate-friendly area study is state requirement due by the end of the year. So we have to submit this study. It's not binding, it's an exploration, and at least it's gonna go into greater detail there. But we did this study with the intention of learning and working with the community. So learning on a factual side, doing a lot of analysis, and then engagement is a big part of this work. Um, and so in preparation and anticipation of I think a bigger piece of work that's facing our group, the city council and the community in a growth plan that's going to lead growth and and assist with managing growth in the next 20 years. So you have council goal around that. You have that plan for growth aligned with CFEX, efficient land supply, complete neighborhoods, economic development. Um, so this was really a great effort to learn. Like, okay, what's community thinking? What are ideas out there? Um, and to really advance that work. Um, so we think this is a resource document that we can use going forward. Um, you also have council goals on accessible and effective government and innovative engagement. I believe the work and Jennifer will cover this uh embodies uh your aspirations for kind of more on on the ground engagement, um, as well as information sharing between commissions and boards. So we did something we hadn't done before and brought a bunch of boards together to help us in this work. Of course, it's consistent with your new policies support sustainable development, and in this project in particular, this is a connection between land use and transportation. So I know this council is very keen about improved transportation systems, improved by comped, uh coupling that with land use. So entirely consistent with your council goals and actions, even though it is not necessarily called out specifically. Um with that, let's see. Yeah, I think it's a great time to turn it over to Elise. She's gonna she's gonna kick us off and uh and we'll have plenty of time for QA. Thank you. Uh so first, I'm just gonna give a quick reminder of what climate-friendly areas are and why we're doing this. A climate-friendly area or a CFA, as we tend to call them, is a designated area of the city where people don't necessarily need a vehicle for every single trip that they take. The idea behind CFAs is that if you design cities so that people have the option to walk, bike, or take transit in addition to driving, cities have the option to lower greenhouse gas emissions. This study is a requirement. Um, it's a component of the climate-friendly and equitable communities rules, which say that cities in Oregon have to study and then designate CFAs. We have a draft of the study online right now and is due at the end of the year. And as Brian mentioned, this isn't a land use decision, there's no action required on this. We are just presenting the background work that we completed, um, which you'll use in the future to designate CFAs. The study identifies 10 candidates, which we have shown on this slide.
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