Wildflower property Neighborhood public meeting

You are invited to attend a public meeting to learn about a proposed development project in our neighborhood. The purpose of this meeting is to provide a forum for the applicant and neighbors to discuss the proposed development prior to its application submission to the City of Bend.

Meeting will be held via Zoom, November 18, 2021 at 6:00PM PST

Zoom Meeting ID: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3689765271

Call In: 1-253-215-8782

Meeting ID: 368 976 5271

Annual Meeting

MEETING DETAILS
We hope you will be able to attend our upcoming annual meeting this coming Thursday evening.

When? Thursday, Nov 4 (6:30-8:30pm)
Where? Zoom. Click here to join us (passcode: larkspur).

Guest Presentation Highlights:

• Policing in Larkspur :: Q&A with Police Chief Mike Krantz

• Housing Bill 4079 + its implications for an upcoming affordable housing project in Larkspur

• GO Bond transportation projects in the neighborhood

* SEEKING NEW BOARD MEMBERS *

Besides having our guest presenters cover the important topics listed above, we will be holding new board member elections at Thursday's meeting. We are especially seeking people who are interested in helping us with the following:

Social Media: We could use someone who can help us get the word out about topics of interest for the neighborhood on Facebook and NextDoor and other social media platforms, and monitor social media for issues of interest to our neighbors.

Land Use: There is a lot of new development proposed in our neighborhood. Helping people understand zoning and the development process is an important part of our mission. Even if you don’t currently know much about land use, if you are willing to learn, we have resources available to get you up to speed. This is an interesting and important role for the community.

Transportation: There seem to be plenty of issues around street safety and traffic in the neighborhood. With the recent passing of the transportation bond, a number of projects are slated for our neighborhood. We would like to have someone on the board who is interested in following street safety and transportation issues and serving as the focus for communication about these issues.

Emergency Response: Are you currently involved with the Community Emergency Response Team? We’d love to have someone associated with CERT be connected with us so we can help raise awareness of community safety in our neighborhood.

Being a board member can be a fulfilling way to engage in the community and have a positive impact on Bend's future. Most of us volunteered to join the board during our first meeting, so please consider joining the board even if Thursday is your first meeting with us! Please feel free to email us ahead of the meeting if you have any questions.

Land Use Updates

This has been a busy summer for land use activity in the Larkspur Neighborhood. To access the details on land use activity on any property in the City, the simplest way is through the City of Bend’s interactive map. This link allows one to either zoom in on the map to find a particular property, or enter the property address, or enter a project number. All documentation related to land use projects is now available online.

There are  five major land use projects happening or upcoming in the Larkspur neighborhood. Here is what we know as of now: 

Townhouses in Daly Estates area: a total of 133 townhomes are planned in the area between Daly Estates and Pettigrew, in the area east of Woodhaven. The first three phases of this development have been approved; details are available by referring to the  project numbers associated with these projects. 

(Project numbers :  PLSPR20200985, PL20-0946, PL20-0918)

Bear Creek Commons Apartments: 176 apartments in six buildings are planned for the northeast corner of Bear Creek and Pettigrew. The developer has held a neighborhood public meeting regarding this property, and the application is currently under review. Project number is PLLD20210861

Wildflower development - 15th Street southeast of Wilson: The developer is seeking a change in the master plan for this area to eliminate the mixed employment zoning and build only rental housing. 574 total dwelling units in a variety of housing styles are proposed. The application is currently under review; the developer is required to have a neighborhood public meeting but this is not presently scheduled. Project number: PLPRE20210804

Affordable housing  - between Bear Creek and Highway 20, east of Dantili. This is currently still in discussion with the developer; because it is technically outside of the city, at this point it is not part of the general planning and review process. The preliminary plans at this point call for 345 housing units, 138 of which will be classified as affordable. A portion of the property will include a park. There will be some sort of a public process once the master plan proposal has been developed. We hope to have representatives of the City give a presentation on the proposed development at a future meeting. 

Outdoor Homeless Shelter: Carolyn Eagan, Recovery Strategy and Impact Officer from the City of Bend, had a presentation on the proposal regarding the proposed homeless housing at 9th Street just east of Glenwood. The recording of that meeting is available here (Passcode: khH6v#G%). As more information is available, we will include it here.

Fee Changes & city Adoption

Councilors approved new fees for the coming year as part of the biennial budget adoption. The fee schedule covers utility rates, development fees, System Development Charges (SDCs), airport fees, parking fees, solid waste rates and more.

Utility rates will increase 3% for water, 2.5% for sewer and 7% for stormwater. System development charges – fees on development to pay for infrastructure needed are increasing 5% each for transportation, water and sewer SDCs. Development fee increases include: building 3%, planning 6% and private development engineering 3%.

Here is the full list of fee changes. The fee increases are part of the 2021-23 budget which Councilors adopted unanimously.

The biennial budget of $927.7 million is a 4 percent increase over the last biennium. The $927.7 million number represents all operating revenues for the biennium (which are $395 million), as well as debt proceeds, interfund transfers, one-time grant funding, and reserves from the prior fiscal year. The $395 million in projected operating revenues for the biennium is a 5 percent increase for the first year of the biennium and a 6 percent increase for the second year.

Of the $395 million of City-wide operating revenues, $124 million are in the City’s General Fund. The primary source of revenue in the General Fund is from property taxes, and about 80 percent of the General Fund pays for public safety. The General Fund is also where the Council and the Budget Committee have the most discretion for funding priorities.

Councilors approved allocating about $3 million of General Fund discretionary revenue to support implementation of their Council Goals. Addressing homelessness is a priority, with approximately 40 percent of the allocated revenues dedicated to Council’s housing goals.

The proposed 2021-23 budget is here. Past and present budget documents are found at: www.bendoregon.gov/budget.

This short, animated video explains more generally how the City's budget works.

Wildflower Property Update

There have been pre-application discussions between the developer and the City Planning staff regarding the property on 15th street east of Wilson, known as the Wildflower Master Plan area. Based on those discussions, the developer is putting together some revised plans and is expecting to have at least one neighborhood public meeting (virtual format) before the application is submitted to the City. That meeting is likely at least a month away, and perhaps more. There is a requirement that notification be submitted to neighbors a certain number of days before the public meeting. We will be keeping people informed as we know more about this schedule and have more detail on what the developer is proposing.

You can review the pre-application documents and the City’s response on the City website by following this link:

https://cityview.ci.bend.or.us/Portal/Planning/Status?planningId=696

Transportation plans for our neighborhood

Here is some information from our Land Use Chair:

In 2020, a bond measure was passed to address funding for transportation system improvements in Bend. What does that mean for the Larkspur Neighborhood?

The entire plan runs to 156 pages, but the City website has a good interactive map that can help you understand what is happening locally. You can find it here.

Click this link for a summary of what we can expect for improvements in or near the Larkspur Neighborhood - and when.

Bylaws Refresh

Every Neighborhood Association (NA) and its board operates under a set of bylaws, which includes standard procedures that guide our actions. Over time, our NA bylaws have become outdated so the board recently revamped them. All members attending our virtual general meeting on 4/29/2021 will be asked to vote on these new bylaws before they can be formally adopted. You can read this 4-page document here. If you have any questions regarding the bylaws, contact the Larkspur Chair at chair.larkspurna@gmail.com prior to the general meeting date.