Throughout the Bend community there is an intense debate occurring as to the placement of a four-year university under development by Oregon State University-Cascades. This is a very important, actually extremely important, time for community supporters who have worked for decades to bring this four-year university to fruition to speak up. Testimony can still be taken through June 25.
The naysayers are active, advocating against the university under the guise of a group called Truth-In-Site that carries its weight with a ‘not in my backyard and what about the parking, the traffic and the nuisance of students’ — coupled with a large bankroll. The proponents are thoughtful, diligent and knowledgeable of the issues. Many are long time community leaders who recognize the value of a four-year university and the positive aspects of placing it within the city’s urban center. The project has been endorsed and supported by the Bend Chamber of Commerce, the City of Bend and numerous community organizations including the local Rotary Clubs.
The plan is currently in the hands of an independent hearings officer in an effort to evaluate the OSU-Cascades site application for the 10-acre parcel adjacent to the SW Century Drive and Chandler Avenue roundabout. A determination on whether or not the plan meets the criteria set forth in Bend’s development code was the order of last week’s two-day hearing.
The record will be open for written comments through June 25, with rebuttals from OSU-Cascades allowed until July 16. Written testimony can be submitted by email to osucomments@bendoregon.gov or mailed to the City of Bend Planning Division, c/o Aaron Henson, 710 NW Wall Street, Bend, OR 97701.
The person who has led the way on behalf of OSU for the opportunity to have a four-year university in Bend is Vice President of OSU-Cascades, Becky Johnson who said in a letter to OSU alumni: “Going forward, it is our commitment to manage the expansion of OSU’s branch campus so that it delivers significant regional benefits and contributes to Central Oregon’s quality of life. The campus – along with its faculty and students – will be essential assets to the community and surrounding neighborhoods. Working with the surrounding neighborhoods is, and will be, central to this effort.”
THE BACKGROUND IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Last summer the Oregon State Legislature voted to provide $16 million in general fund backed bonds for the expansion, to be matched with at least $4 million in philanthropic support and $4 million in campus-supported bonds. Supporters of OSU-Cascades have surpassed a $4 million private fundraising goal for the campus expansion. Their gifts, which exceed $4.6 million, bring the decades-old vision of a four-year university in Central Oregon another step closer to reality. The private funding is a good indication that the majority of the community supports the expansion at the proposed Bend site.
In April 2013 Oregon State University -Cascades formed the Campus Expansion Advisory Committee (CEAC) to help inform and gather input from the Central Oregon community as it expands to a four-year university on a campus in Bend.
CEAC is co-chaired by Matt Shinderman, a senior instructor of natural resources and the faculty lead for the sustainability degree program and Jodie Barram, City of Bend Mayor Pro Tem. CEAC represents expertise on important issues OSU-Cascades and the community face as the new campus develops in West Bend including transportation and parking, infrastructure, business partnerships, neighborhood livability and sustainability.
The CEAC committee members have spent long volunteer hours reviewing and assessing the options that OSU has in forming a four-year university. The west side Bend location has been thoroughly researched and significant public input has been put into the site selection.So it’s surprising that within a couple of months a group called Truth in Site was formed to oppose the campus expansion and are in the process of raising $50,000 to mount a legal challenge.
Residents have had numerous opportunities to voice opinions about the selected site, but only now some have expressed their opposition. The group represents a very small minority of the 80,000 residents in Bend, but a legal challenge can and will be especially undermining and damaging to the development of the university.
The university site requires 40 to 60 acres of land to serve a campus of 3,000 to 5,000 students as well as convenient access to schools, fitness, recreation, shopping, restaurants, medical facilities and downtown Bend, close proximity to OSU-Cascades Graduate & Research Center and COCC and convenient access to businesses and organizations that can partner to provide research and internship opportunities.
While Juniper Ridge was carefully considered as an option for the four-year campus, it would have been a more costly and a less marketable location. Juniper Ridge site does not offer amenities within walking/biking distance for students, which would make it very difficult to attract students, faculty and staff — particularly from outside of Central Oregon.
The lack of sewer, water, power and roads to the Juniper site made it prohibitively expensive and it would have been a monumental task to complete the infrastructure required for the campus.
It seems that with amazing due diligence, the OSU Expansion Advisory Committee was able to find current property located at Chandler Avenue and Century Drive that meets the outlined requirements and provides an opportunity to enhance the surrounding neighborhoods with economic growth, attractive architecture and landscaping and additional bike and pedestrian pathways.
Parking and traffic are raised as issues of concern and yet nearly half of the students and staff are already going to OSU-Cascades at the current Central Oregon Community College location. Over the past five years that OSU-Cascades has been developing in Bend there has been little, if any, complaints about parking, traffic or neighborhood congestion.
Many of the complaints now are focused on parking and traffic, but we suspect that the fears have more to do with their property values and the presence of ‘too many’ young people in Bend. However, no one has complained in the surrounding areas of COCC which include some of the highest valued neighborhoods in Bend about the nearly 18,000 students who come and go at the Bend campus. Nor have the property values around COCC been negatively impacted.
The new group of students who will be added over time will include at least 300 students who will live on campus…students who won’t be driving or parking.OSU-Cascades has made it abundantly clear that they will maximize on-campus housing to minimize traffic and problems in neighborhoods. Currently OSU only houses 20 percent of its students on campus but has indicated they will make a commitment to significantly increase that number.
Joe Bessman and Phillip Worth, of a traffic engineering firm, Kittelson & Associates, thoroughly explained the university’s traffic study and parking management plan at the recent hearing.
Bessman compared the current plan to the 10-acre parcel’s originally intended use of an 80,400-square-foot shopping center. He stated that the firm’s high university traffic estimate was far below what a commercial area would generate. Worth tackled the parking issue by citing studies showing the rising use of alternative transit methods and the campus’s capacity limit of 1,000.
The ability to produce qualified workers has been the roadblock for high tech development in Central Oregon for years. The development of a four-year institution will include curriculum parameters to help fuel the growing high tech need. What is suppose to be an exciting addition to Bend is being flooded by a group with access to large amounts of money who appear not have the vision that the attributes a university can bring to the community.
Please submit your comments by June 25 to help this tremendous positive project.
