Central oregon Villages - update
On June 20, the Executive Director and members of the board of directors for Central Oregon Villages (COV) were invited to attend the Larkspur Board meeting to discuss the homeless village that is proposed for two acres of the Desert Streams Church property at the northeast corner of 27th and Bear Creek Road.
We had a two hour discussion in which neighbors were given the opportunity to express their concerns and get their questions answered - without the three minute time limit that people are given in a City Council setting. It was a good discussion and many relevant issues were brought up by neighbors.
In attendance were Nicky Merrit, Executive director of COV; and James Cook, Chuck Hemingway and Jim Porter, who are all on the Board of Directors for COV. Jim Porter recently retired as Chief of Police for the City of Bend. Mike Krantz, the current Chief of Police was also in attendance and also answered questions.
A link to the video recording of the meeting is here.
Many of the questions and concerns raised in the meeting are addressed in the Frequently Asked Questions page on the COV website (Here is a link to that) and they have been updating the FAQs as new questions come in. During the week of July 5 COV expects to post a link to the Program Handbook that will be the agreement between COV and the residents of the Village; residents must agree to abide by these terms in order to remain residents of the Village.
What are the next steps?
On July 14, COV will be sponsoring an open house and roundtable discussion about the proposed village; this will take place at the Desert Streams Church. COV will be going door-to-door in the adjacent neighborhoods to make sure that people are aware of the open house. The Larkspur NA will also be reaching out to neighbors through social media concerning this event.
Ways to Participate July 14th:
12:00 - 4:00 PM: Drop-in with COV staff and board. This portion of the outreach is on a walk-in basis, pre-registration requested but not required. There will be information about the management of the village, security, the Good Neighbor agreement with nearby neighbors, and the proposed layout and plan for maintenance of the property, and plenty of chance to provide feedback on what is proposed.
6:00 - 7:30 PM: Round-Table Discussion. Seating at the Desert Streams Church for the Round Table Discussion is limited; those wishing to attend this portion of the event should RSVP to nicky@covillages.org with name, contact information and personal or business address within the Larkspur Neighborhood. (Preference will be to the residents/businesses of the Larkspur neighborhood).
If you are not able to participate on July 14, you are welcome to contact Nicky by phone, email or in person to get the details of what is proposed and provide feedback.
At the open house there will be an opportunity to provide input on the draft of the Good Neighbor Agreement. The Bend City Code that was recently passed makes it the responsibility of the service provider (COV in this case) to work with neighbors to develop this agreement so that there’s a clear understanding of how we should communicate and come to resolution of any issues that might arise associated with this village. The current draft is very preliminary and we hope that neighbors will help us come up with a document that will provide a good working framework for ongoing communication.
COV has also proposed that we create an advisory board that includes neighbors; this group would meet on some regular schedule to review progress of the Village and address issues. Details of this remain to be worked out.
What is the timeline for what will happen at the site?
COV will need to complete their neighbor outreach and report back to City Council before any authorization is given to begin groundwork for the Village. They are expecting to report back to Council in early August. If all goes as they expect, the first structures will be in place and the Village will go into operation this fall.
——————————————————————
What is the position of the Larkspur NA Board on all of this?
We don’t view ourselves as in a position of support or opposition as a Neighborhood Association so much as the group who is ensuring that neighbors be given the opportunity to express their concerns and get answers from City staff and Central Oregon Villages in open discussion. We want to make sure that neighbors’ concerns are taken seriously. Two of our board members live within two blocks of the proposed site so we understand that many neighbors have concerns about this proposal.
We are not taking an adversarial approach to this. It is in the early stages of discussion, and COV has not yet made a full proposal as to what they are planning to do. We are in communication with them to understand exactly what they are proposing, help get the word out about their community outreach efforts to make sure they hear neighbors’ concerns, and see if we can push for solutions to any issues that are raised.
With recent code changes and changes in Oregon law, a shelter of the type that is proposed is now permitted for property zoned as the Desert Streams Church property is zoned. We think pouring our efforts into trying to stop it would be unproductive. Our time is better spent making sure that what is put in will have no negative consequences for neighbors. We feel like this is not an unrealistic goal.
I urge you to participate in any outreach efforts that COV makes. Nicky Merritt has offered to meet one-on-one with anyone who wants to discuss their concerns with the proposed village. You can contact her at nicky@covillages.org or through the contact info on the Central Oregon Villages webpage: https://covillages.org.
