Bend City Council Meeting Summary (November 5, 2025)
Bend City Council Meeting Summary (November 5, 2025)
The Bend City Council convened to address community welfare, code amendments, and administrative reviews. A significant portion of the meeting focused on supporting residents impacted by a federal SNAP benefit delay through an emergency $20,000 contribution and internal food drives. The Council also engaged in extensive deliberations regarding the removal of public access requirements for private open space in master plans, receiving substantial public testimony and planning commission feedback before approving a cleanup of the Development Code. Additional actions included approving staff alternates for the Metropolitan Planning Organization, finalizing zoning for a school-adjacent parcel, and initiating the annual City Manager review process.
Consent Calendar
- The Council approved the Consent Agenda, excluding Item B (15th and Ferguson Roundabout Project).
- Item B was deferred from the Consent Calendar to allow for a specific motion and discussion regarding design engagement.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Transportation Safety (Annie Goldner, Jim Elliott): Representatives of Families for Safe Streets expressed full support for the city's traffic safety improvements and urged the Council to modernize street standards to prioritize pedestrian and cyclist safety, citing the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims.
- Business Concerns (Adriana Cohn): A local business owner expressed concern regarding limited parking availability at the Jackstraw development and sought clarification on plans for a parking district.
- Master Plan Compliance (Mike Fanning): A resident of Northeast Bend expressed strong opposition to the new owner's intent to subdivide the Markets of Petrosa site, arguing it contradicts the approved master plan and threatens neighborhood character. The community was urged to pause all activities on the property until master plan compliance is addressed.
- Interoperability (David Green): A representative of Bend Bikes expressed support for increased coordination between the City and Park District but called for the Council to mandate unified rules for e-bike usage on city and park paths.
- Nuclear Safety (Craig Sheets): A member of the public raised concerns regarding the transport of nuclear materials via trains and alleged connections to narcotics trafficking in the region.
- Resignation Review (Foster): An individual expressed support for the City's commitment to an independent review of a former employee's resignation, urging the process remain fact-based and free from speculative reporting.
- Open Space Access (Mark Gentle, Karen Johnson, Roberta Silverman): Community members expressed strong opposition to the removal of the "must be open to the public" clause from the Development Code. They argued this change creates a dangerous loophole allowing developers to designate private, fenced-off open space, undermining public access to trails and parks and reducing equity.
- Planning Commission Response (Commissioners Winters & Johansson): Commissioners clarified that while the code change aims to remove ambiguity regarding fenced drainage basins, the existing Park Search Area map and connectivity requirements still ensure public access to necessary parks and trails. They expressed confidence in the Park District's ability to identify needs.
Discussion Items
- SNAP Benefit Disruption:
- Neighbor Impact presented data indicating 23,405 households are food insecure in Central Oregon. Speaker Molly Heiss expressed full support for community action but noted the crisis is a "failure of government" caused by political inaction.
- The organization reported a 28% loss in food volume compared to previous shutdowns, with no commodity surge to offset the shortage.
- Councilor Franzone and the Council expressed full support for a $20,000 emergency contribution to Neighbor Impact, with Councilor Riley explicitly stating this is a temporary measure to address a federal failure, not a permanent solution.
- MPO Staff Alternates:
- Council approved the appointment of Brian Rankin, David Abbas, and Janet Ruby as staff alternates for the Bend Metropolitan Planning Organization to ensure business continuity if city representatives are absent.
- Short-Term Rentals (CN Zone):
- Councilor Riley requested to return to a previously tabled discussion regarding applying concentration limits to the Neighborhood Commercial (CN) zone for three specific properties. Councilor Franzosa raised concerns that this narrow approach might ignore a broader policy issue of commercial zones converting to short-term rentals.
- The Council agreed to include the discussion of the three specific CN properties in the next comprehensive housing code package to be scheduled in the spring.
- A separate work session was not requested for the broader short-term rental policy question at this time, though the Council acknowledged the need for future policy discussion.
- State Housing Law vs. Neighborhood Commercial Space:
- Councilor Franzosa requested a work session to discuss unintended consequences of state housing laws (SB 8, HB 3395) leading to the loss of land for neighborhood commercial space in areas like Wildflower and Easton.
- Councilor Platt expressed support for exploring the tension between complete community goals and affordable housing mandates.
- Staff indicated plans to include this topic in the next work session related to Council goals, potentially incorporating advocacy efforts regarding state law amendments.
- Code Amendment (Public Hearing Item 5):
- Open Space Definition: Staff proposed clarifying that open space in master plans must be usable and not a fenced drainage basin, removing the 2023 requirement that it be "open to the public" to resolve ambiguity. Council Mayor Keebler expressed comfort moving forward but acknowledged the need for a broader future conversation on public vs. private open space policy.
- Bicycle Parking: Discussion clarified the distinction between short-term (50% U-racks minimum) and long-term (25% U-racks minimum) bicycle parking requirements to ensure accessible options while maintaining flexibility for developers.
- Fuel Reduction: The Council discussed exempting public agencies from the fuel reduction land use process in Waterway Overlay Zones (WAS) and Areas of Special Interest (ASI). The Planning Commission recommended no exemption to ensure consistent oversight. The Council acknowledged the tension but did not support adding an exemption to the motion at this time.
- Final Vote: The Council unanimously passed the ordinance to amend the Bend Development Code, addressing rear setbacks, bicycle parking, legal lots, and other procedural clarifications.
- Zoning Amendment (Item 6):
- The Council approved the rezoning of 1.93 acres adjacent to Pacific Crest Middle School from Urban Area Reserve (UAR) to Residential Urban Medium Density (RM) via a roll call vote, with all members voting in favor.
- City Manager Review:
- City Manager Rob initiated the 2025 review process for City Manager Eric King. Council members agreed to proceed with the standard timeline, though Councilor Mendez requested an extension to review a pending third-party investigation report before the December 3rd executive session.
Key Outcomes
- SNAP Support: Unanimous authorization of a $20,000 financial contribution to Neighbor Impact, alongside the institution of city-wide food drives and a partnership with the Fire Department.
- MPO Governance: Approval of three staff alternates (Brian Rankin, David Abbas, Janet Ruby) to serve on the Bend Metropolitan Planning Organization policy board to maintain quorum.
- Code Amendments: Unanimous passage of the ordinance amending the Bend Development Code to clarify open space definitions, update bicycle parking standards, and streamline review processes for fuel reduction and master plans.
- Zoning Approval: Adoption of the ordinance redesignating 1.93 acres from UAR-10 to RM, effective immediately, with a vote tally of 7-0 (Aye).
- Administrative Action: Initiation of the City Manager performance review process, with the executive session scheduled for December 3rd pending the release of an independent investigation report.
Meeting Transcript
All right. The Benn City Council will now meet in executive session in pursuance to ORS one nine two six six six six six six six zero two H to consult with legal counsel concerning the legal rights and duties of a public body regarding current litigation or litigation likely to be filed. Representatives of the news media and designated staff shall be allowed to attend the executive session. No decision. Oh wait, representatives of the news media are specifically directed not to report on any of the deliberations during the executive session, except to state the general subject of the session as previously announced. No decision may be made in executive session at the end of the executive session. We will return to open session at 6 p.m. Thanks, I think. Okay. All right. So we will go ahead and call to order. Whoa. There's an echo from someone. Who's echoing? Oh good. Uh, we'll go ahead and call the order of the Ben City Council business meeting for tonight and um start with a roll call. Start on your ends, uh, Councilor Platt. Steve Platt, he him. Megan Norris, she her. Melanie Keebler, she, her. Mike Riley, he him. Ariel Mendez, he him. Gina Franzosa, she, her. And Councilor Perkins' excuse tonight. So we are going to go right into good of the order. And tonight we're going to start by just some um information and then ask for counsel. Um, so I'm going to invite um Molly Heiss from Neighbor Impact to come on up to the table. And this is just going to be an item receiving some information about the SNAP benefits issue that's going on right now with the delay of SNAP benefit money to people in our community. A couple quick stats, and Molly might cover these too, but um 34% of Central Oregonians are struggling to cover their basic expenses, and twenty-seven thousand Central Oregonians rely on SNAP to keep food on their tables. That includes nine thousand children and forty-five hundred seniors who face food insecurity. So thought this was a very timely topic that we wanted to make sure we're hearing about for our community. Um and Molly's gonna talk with us a little bit and then I'll have an ask for counsel. Indeed. Good evening, Mayor Keebler and esteemed counselors. Thank you again for the invitation to invite Neighbor Impact here to speak about the SNAP disruption and how neighbor impacts responding. I'm Molly Heis. I'm the deputy executive director of community services, which includes uh oversight of the regional food bank. Neighbor Impact is the community action agency serving Crook Deschutes Jefferson Counties and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. And we are also the regional food bank in partnership with Feeding America and Oregon Food Bank. So here to just create more information around the need and talk about what we're doing. My stats are slightly different in that I have 23,000 405 Central Oregon households without food assistance as of November 1. That includes 9,01 as reported by the Oregon Department of Human Services local branch office that are in Bendalone. We supply as the regional food bank food across Central Oregon to 57 partner agencies. We also maintain and operate 15 mobile pantry sites, taking food out to communities and regions across Central Oregon that don't have access to food resources. So we're going out to food deserts with our mobile food pantry to help deploy. So we lost a 28% of our food volume that we're normally used to. The thing that's of significant note about this disruption and government shutdown is the last government shutdown, we were flooded with food commodities. So we had a significant amount of food to move, almost more than we could handle, including our partner agencies. This time is extremely different. We had a shortage that we started, we were informed of in March, started feeling by May, and that's disrupted food flow across Central Oregon and to our partner agencies and our mobile distributions.
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