Appointed by the City Council, the Bend Economic Development Advisory Board (BEDAB) promotes a supportive and innovative business environment designed to foster economic growth in the City of Bend. An important strategy in achieving these goals is to advocate for local business needs in City policy and procedures. The Bend Business Advocate, through BEDAB, actively works with other city staff and the community to review processes and procedures which may act as a deterrent to economic growth. Once identified, solutions can be found to remove these challenges.
An example of this is the recent change to the pre-development application meeting process. The pre-application meeting allows a developer to meet with City staff to discuss potential projects prior to submitting applications. This allows City staff and the potential applicants to identify challenges that may affect the project. BEDAB has worked closely with the Community Development Department (CDD) to waive the $1,300 pre-development meeting fee because it was seen as a deterrent to such early interaction. As a result, CDD has seen a large increase in the amount of pre-application meetings scheduled. This benefits both sides because they are better informed about the project before the formal review process begins.
Another key action item in this process is working with the CDD to create and enact a variety of development code updates targeting ease and simplification of code guidelines. The code revision process is already underway and is being tracked by BEDAB and the Business Advocate to assure specific improvements are considered.
BEDAB and the Bend Business Advocate will continue to work with City staff and the business community to identify road blocks that can prevent economic growth and work collaboratively to remove such challenges.
BEDAB has formed an “Advocacy Subcommittee” that will continue to monitor the important items that impact the business community to assure their needs are considered in City policy.
