Deschutes County to weigh new zone west of Bend

At the request of property owners, Deschutes County is considering amending its comprehensive plan to add a new zoning designation for the future development of a broad swath of land west of Bend.

The new Westside Transect Zone would provide a transitional buffer between higher density areas within the city of Bend and open spaces, rural residential areas, and forested lands located in the rural county.

If approved, the new zone would require designing subdivisions to integrate with the surrounding natural landscape by minimizing the impact on wildlife habitat and reducing the risk of wildfire.

Proposed comprehensive plan policies limit development to a maximum of 200 single-family homes within the 717-acre area. Minimum lot sizes are 2.5 acres.

The application for the new zone will be reviewed by a Deschutes County hearings officer on Tuesday, Sept. 11 at 6 p.m. The hearing will be held in the Barnes and Sawyer Room at the Deschutes County Services Building, located at 1300 NW Wall Street.

The Board of County Commissioners is expected to hear the application later this year.

Central Oregon LandWatch reached a compromise in early 2016 with land owners in the area on where the expanded urban growth boundary line would go, and a city advisory panel endorsed the proposal.

The group said at the time that an initial proposal of 1,400 or more homes in the area would have been “a level of density inappropriate for the wildland-urban interface on the city’s edge.”

Here’s a Deschutes County site with the map and more background: https://www.deschutes.org/cd/page/westside-transect-zone.