Since October of 2013, the City of Bend has held four meetings and collected hundreds of comments on the area around Third Street, from Revere to Burnside, called Bend’s Central District. The City has drafted a development plan for the area based on those comments and input from a citizen technical advisory committee and project team.
“We have consistently found that traffic and transportation are important to residents,” says Wendy Robinson of the City of Bend’s Community Development Department. “If we don’t do anything, it will get much worse.”
The type of development they have settled on is a new state land designation called a “multimodal, mixed-use area” or MMA.
MMA is an area where a mix of commercial, residential and other uses combines areas for biking, walking, and transit riders. Because the MMA makes an exception to state traffic requirements, an MMA allows for more flexibility to create a mix of land uses and increased travel choices.
“This new rule allows the city to set their own mobility standards
more flexibility to control what happens in an area,” explains Robinson.
The idea came about as the Urban Growth Boundary committee wanted 500 new housing units in the area. The state rejected the idea due to the area’s zoning. Upon hearing about the rejection, Robinson looked into the MMA designation.
The meetings, held October 2013, January, March and August of this year, averaged seventy-five to eighty-five people. January’s meeting saw over 100 interested parties, including property and business owners in the area.
“The owners in that area are anxious to have something happen,” says Robinson. “Many want musicor events to highlight their businesses. That can’t happen in an industrial zone.”
Traffic change recommendations include five lanes for Third Street north of Greenwood Avenue, and three lanes south of Franklin Avenue. Travel speeds will be 35mph, with improved pedestrian facilities, and possibly on-street parking in some locations. All intersections would encourage bicycle and pedestrian travel, including discouraging cars through roadway design and lower travel speeds.
The City hopes to finalize documents by mid-September. They will the present their finding to the city council a month later. The city council will have final say, but will accept recommendations from the Technical Advisory Committee and the Project Team, made up of key stakeholders from the community.
Finalizing the documents will include estimating of costs, designing and constructing specific improvement projects, and planning parking.
“We are trying to plan for the future,” explains Robinson. “If it is embraced, there is a possibility to do MMA in other areas as well.”
More information on the project can be found at www.BendCentralMMA.org.
