Bend City Council Meeting - February 5, 2025: Work Session and Regular Session on Traffic Calming, Civic Assembly, Sign Code, and Housing
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Bend City Council Meeting – February 5, 2025
The Bend City Council held a hybrid work session (5:00 p.m.) and regular session (7:00 p.m.) on February 5, 2025, at City Hall. The work session covered traffic calming, the Central Oregon Civic Assembly, and sign code amendments. The regular session included a community message, consent agenda items, and votes on a right-of-way vacation, a Main Street program resolution, housing development extensions, and an enterprise zone agreement.
Work Session (5:00 p.m.)
Council Schedule Requests – Raised Crossings
Councilor Méndez requested a discussion on traffic calming measures, particularly raised crossings on arterials and collectors to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists. City staff noted upcoming projects (e.g., Galveston) and proposed pairing the topic with a planned March 19 work session. Council agreed to include it.
Central Oregon Civic Assembly Project Presentation
Josh Burgess (Director), Max Chang (Bend High junior), and Katie Kunkmiller (Bend resident) presented on the 2024 Civic Assembly on youth homelessness. The assembly involved 30 randomly selected delegates (25 completed) from Deschutes County, with over 40 hours of deliberation. Of 50+ recommendations, 22 reached the 75% consensus threshold. Key themes included sustainable funding for J Bar J shelter, McKinney-Vento 10-day rule reform, youth voice, and affordable housing. Council expressed support and noted alignment with city goals (childcare, transit, housing). The group requested a formal city response and discussed future assemblies.
Sign Code Amendment Scoping – Portable Signs & Murals
Planning Manager Renee Brooke presented options for expanding portable sign (A-frame) allowances citywide, currently limited to downtown with annual registration. Council favored a more permissive approach: no registration fee, one-time registration, citywide in commercial/industrial zones, with safety standards (6-foot clearance, no blocking vision). On murals, Council supported allowing attached (non-painted) murals, reducing fees, and exploring a graffiti program (inspired by Redmond) on public structures. Staff will bring back options.
Executive Session (5:30 p.m.)
The council entered executive session under ORS 192.660(2)(e) for real property transaction deliberations. No decisions were made; the session was not reported.
Regular Session (7:00 p.m.)
Good of the Order – Community Message
Mayor Kebler read a statement on behalf of the council reaffirming Bend as a welcoming city, opposing federal immigration enforcement policies, and supporting immigrant, LGBTQ+, and other targeted communities. All councilors made supportive remarks, emphasizing local values and continued work.
Consent Agenda
Items A (Minutes), B (Monthly Financial Report – December 2024), and C (Quarterly Investment Report) were approved unanimously. Item D (Water Reclamation Landscape Improvement) was pulled for discussion.
Water Reclamation Facility Landscape Improvement Project (Item D)
Water Services Director Mike Bittner presented the project to address erosion and dust control at the plant. The contract with Mountain Sky, Inc. for $383,316.10 includes base bids for primary/secondary clarifiers and alternates for admin building and digester areas. The irrigation system will use recycled water. Council approved the agreement unanimously.
Initiate Vacation of Romaine Village Way Right-of-Way (Item 5)
Associate Planner Michelle Patrick explained the vacation of a partially improved street segment, part of a 2021 MOU with the adjacent property owner, to align with the Murphy Crossing Refinement Plan. Council approved initiation, with a public hearing scheduled in 4–5 weeks.
Resolution Supporting Downtown Bend Business Association’s Main Street Application (Item 6)
Business Advocate Sarah Smooney and DBBA Executive Director Rachel Aurora presented. The resolution supports DBBA’s application to the Oregon Main Street Program, which offers funding, technical support, and best practices. Council adopted the resolution unanimously.
Resolution Authorizing Planning Approval Extensions for Housing Projects (Item 7)
Community and Economic Development Director Colin Stevens requested a one-year extension for housing project approvals, citing persistent high interest rates and supply chain issues. The resolution allows extensions through July 2025. Council approved unanimously.
Enterprise Zone Tax Exemption Agreement with Seran Biotech LLC (Item 8)
Business Advocate Cyrus M. presented the five-year tax abatement for Seran Biotech’s $6 million investment at 63020 Layton Avenue, expected to create 20 new jobs. The agreement includes a 15% school support fee in years 4–5. Council authorized the agreement unanimously.
City Manager’s Report – Traffic Disruptions
City Manager Eric King addressed the “perfect storm” of winter weather (40+ crashes in two days) and the closure of Wall/Portland intersection for a utility and safety project. Signal timing adjustments on Greenwood, Bond, and Third Street are in progress. The project is expected to be completed by Memorial Day 2025. Council urged public patience and suggested alternative routes.
Key Outcomes
- Approved consent agenda items A, B, C (unanimous).
- Approved Water Reclamation Landscape Improvement agreement with Mountain Sky, Inc. ($383,316.10) (unanimous).
- Initiated right-of-way vacation for Romaine Village Way (unanimous).
- Adopted resolution supporting Downtown Bend Business Association’s Main Street application (unanimous).
- Adopted resolution authorizing one-year planning approval extensions for housing projects (unanimous).
- Authorized enterprise zone agreement with Seran Biotech LLC for five-year tax exemption (unanimous).
- Council directed staff to bring back options on expanded portable sign rules and mural code amendments at a future meeting.
- Council agreed to include raised crossings discussion in a March 19 work session.
- Civic Assembly organizers will provide a formal response to recommendations; city staff will explore long-term funding for a civic engagement secretariat.
Meeting Transcript
We're gonna start with council schedule requests and we have one from Councillor Mendez. Yeah, I have a uh schedule request in the f that pertains to uh traffic safety and in particular traffic calming in two related ways. Uh one is relating to um traffic calming along arterials and collectors for when people who are not driving are trying to cross. Uh oftentimes if you're driving, it feels like you maybe don't have time to stop. Uh and if you do have time to stop, you worry about the person behind you slamming into you. Uh so even if you're driving along and you're trying to do the right thing and you're paying attention, sometimes it it's we I feel like our street designs make it difficult. So one thing I wanted to ask about is whether there's an appetite to explore traffic calming measures uh that would help drivers drive the appropriate speed on collectors and materials. And related to that is when you were walking or biking parallel to a collector or RTL, oftentimes you're worried about drivers who are turning. Uh particularly right, but also left. Um they might not slow down enough or have time to see you. And so if there is a way to address that through perhaps raised crossings or other traffic calming devices, um I think it would be helpful to have council's thoughts on that. So I wanted to ask if there was an appetite to hear staff present on that possibility and what the implications are for it. So um, yeah, we went through our goal setting and looking at our street standards is on our goals, uh Eric, was there something else coming up? There's some projects coming up. Some an application uh that you're talking about what would potentially could be applied as we're designing that project and we're pretty early on in the design process, so now would be there's some timeliness to have that conversation direction from council now there. The other project that is also on our radar is Galveston. And that so the the sort of the two prongs that were presented by council members one kind of you know, perpendicular to a collector, one parallel. Kind of two different examples. So it would be helpful to have direction from council if there's interest in applying um those race crossings in either of those formats in the next couple of months. Thank you for that. And I and I should add that uh the city does deploy these kinds of crossings in uh certain circumstances, especially close to schools or parks. Um but it seems that my sense is that there may be a need to broaden the scope of those applications. Uh places like maybe uh Ferguson or uh Northeast Studio or Fourteenth Avenue, um excuse me, 14th Street. There's I think I I I think we deploy them, but in very narrow context, and I think the idea is to talk about maybe we want to consider how effective they might be in other contexts as well. Is that sound something that would all fit into that same work session, Eric? Yeah, we were planning a work session to in in March on another project, and we thought maybe pairing this together be that I think it's the second meeting in March, March 19th is what we were uh planning. So if there's interest on this topic, we would include that in the DPS. Okay, let's do that. Thank you, Councilor Mendes. And we heard some public comment about this as well. So that's good to be responsible to that. Okay. That was the it for schedule requests for this month. So we are going to move on to the Central Oregon Civic Assembly project presentation. So you all can come on up. Um we've got Joss Burgess, and we have uh Max Chang and also Captain Penmuler. Did I get close? Yeah, okay, good. Um set up and you can begin. Thank you very much. It's wonderful to be here. I'm gonna go ahead and share my screen. Hopefully, this will function as advertised. Looks like my screen sharing is paused, maybe from our setting things up. Well, in the interim while we're doing that, it's good to see everyone again. Thank you very much. My name is Josh Burgess. I am a Bend resident, uh retired Air Force Colonel, and now the director of the Central Oregon Civic Action Project. I'm joined today by two delegates from the Civic Assembly, Max Chang and Katie Kunkmiller, who will be speaking with you about their experiences. Um I know that you all have heard about this before because I've sat in this seat and and described to you what we're going to do.
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