Bend Business Community . . .
Welcome to spring! Our business community is off and running to start 2024, and I wanted to highlight some exciting news coming from our Central District. If you haven’t seen it already check out this article from Suzanne Roig at the Bend Bulletin that covers a new development called The Catalyst that is home to the beloved Pine Shed from the old Spoken Moto location. The Catalyst will be an incredible gathering place in the core of our City for people to gather, enjoy food, drinks, and live entertainment.
Adjacent to the Catalyst, our friends over at Campfire Hotel were recently recognized at the Oregon Governor’s Conference on Tourism, as they received the Diversity, Accessibility and Inclusion award for 2023! A huge job well done to Daniel Elder and the team at Campfire for this work.
Transportation Fee Updates
On March 20, the Bend City Council passed a first reading of the ordinance creating Chapter 3.110 Transportation Fee and the fee schedule for the Phase 1 rates. Below is a chart of the final Non-Residential Phase 1 rates that will go into effect July 1. Please note that a majority of businesses will want to reference that “All Other Non-Residential” row to calculate their fee.
| Per Month Per Account | |
| Non-Residential Transportation Fee | |
| K-12 Public schools | $.60 (per student) |
| Higher education | $.65 (per student) |
| Lodging | $4.50 (by number of rooms) |
| Short-Term Rental Supplement | $100 (per year) |
| Parks | $.45 (per acre) |
| All Other Non-Residential | $6.25 (per 1,000 SQ FT) – 0 – 50,000 SQ FT
$4.50 (per 1,000 SQ FT) – >50 – 100,000 SQ FT $3.00 (per 1,000 SQ FT) – >100,000 SQ FT |
MUPTE Application Approval
The Everpine project, Phase A of the Timber Yards Master Plan, was approved by Council for the Multi-Unit Property Tax Exemption (MUPTE) at the March 20 meeting. In short, MUPTE is a program that cities can implement to incentivize new residential projects in core and transit oriented areas in the City through a 10 year property tax exemption on residential improvements. There are several components of criteria that project must fulfill to receive the exemption. More details about the program can be found here: Multiple Unit Property Tax Exemption Program (MUPTE) | City of Bend (bendoregon.gov).
This six-story Mixed Use Development will include approximately 246 new residential units and three “Public Benefits”:
- Open Space — more than 10% of site area dedicated as publicly accessible open space with usable amenities
- Enhanced Landscaping — native, pollinator friendly, and water-wise landscaping
- Wrapped Parking Structure — retail and residential uses on street level which screen visibility of the project’s parking garage and activate all street frontages
Learn more about this project by reviewing the Presentation from my colleague, Allison Platt!
2024 Street Preservation Plans
The City’s 2024 street preservation plans were approved this week when City Council approved paving, chipseal and slurry seal contracts.
The City of Bend is preparing to do about $4.6 million worth of street preservation contract work this year that will improve approximately 59 lane miles in Bend. This includes about 16 miles of paving, 21 miles of chipseal, and 22 miles of slurry treatments. The attached map shows which roads will get treated this summer.
The City’s “Keep Good Roads Good” philosophy means we maintain and preserve streets with the most cost-effective treatment for the road condition — the right treatment at the right time. Maintenance treatments for the 2024 construction season include:
- Paving (Orange Lines) — Old asphalt is ground out and replaced or a new layer of asphalt is paved on top of existing roadway. Process can take a couple of days.
- Chip seals (Red Lines) — Asphalt emulsion and rock are applied to the road. Rolling, short term closures.
- Slurry seal (Blue Lines) — A treatment typically for low-volume residential streets. One-day closures.
To learn more about Bend’s street preservation practices, visit bendoregon.gov/streetpreservation. To subscribe to weekly emails to plan your best route around road work and construction, visit bendoregon.gov/traffic for the weekly road and traffic report.
Please reach out if you have any questions and wishing you a great start to spring!
Cheers,
Cyrus Mooney
Business Advocate
cmooney@bendoregon.gov
bendoregon.gov
