Packed Bend apartments hearing lasts nearly 5 hours

The Bend City Council chambers were packed to the gills Thursday for nearly five hours for a public hearing on a proposed apartment complex on Bend’s southwest side.

It was standing room only, with many others sitting on the floor and standing in the hallway.

At issue is a 2.91-acre vacant piece of land along Southwest Shevlin Hixon Drive that some say should be used to develop into more housing to accommodate the city’s growth.

Evergreen Housing is a company out of Seattle that has proposed a 170-unit apartment complex between the Deschutes River and The Pavilion ice rink.

Some people think it’s not only a good idea, but a necessary one.

“We are a city now, and not a town anymore. And building up and not out is really important for sustainability in the future,” a proponent told the city hearings officer.

But many are not pleased with the proposal, and made their feelings known.

Some pointed to their tax dollars that go to Bend Parks and Recreation projects surrounding the site, saying they wouldn’t have voted for those projects had they known about this potential complex.

Many argued mostly based on their feelings, despite the hearings officer’s note at the start that only issues siting specific city code criteria and requirements will be considered in his final decision.

“It would be a travesty to be short-sighted enough to favor development over design appeal,” an opponent said.

The building would be about 50 feet tall and four stories.

During Evergreen Housing’s presentation, its director of planning and entitlements, Hans Christiansen, noted that since 1998, the land has been intended for some type of large building.

“The Lot 13 was specifically originally planned for a hotel mixed-use lot, with a 100- to 125-room hotel and an 8,000-square-foot restaurant. And the original master plan allowed for a three- to four-story building,” Christiansen said.

The traffic engineer for the developer also spoke, saying she believed the complex would increase the number of cars at the Colorado-Simpson Avenue intersection by just 18 an hour at peak times.

But that was countered by another engineer, who cited a city-commissioned study.

“The city commissioned its own independent analysis, and it’s part of the record,” he said. “Lancaster (Engineering) came back and said, ‘No, it’s not working, it’s pretty clearly failing.’ And it’s not just that people have to wait longer, but these queues are actually blocking the fire station.”

Another big issue discussed was wether adequate parking for residents was being required.

The developer said the complex will have 187 parking spots, some of which will be tandem spots and 16 of which will be on-street — which according to city staff and proponents is in line with development requirements.

“As they’ve said, it meets the city’s code, it’s fair with all projects,” a proponent said. “if we don’t think there’s a specific amount of parking, that’s OK. We should change the city’s code, instead of picking on specific projects.”

Despite that, many people voiced their objections, on that and other issues.

“I’m glad I won’t be one of those people that might live in one of these apartments who will come home at the end of the day of work and have to drive around for 10 or 20 minutes to try to find a parking space that’s legal,” an opponent said.

Due to the volume of people wanting to speak, the hearings officer continued the hearing to Friday, Jan. 18 at 2 p.m. Until then, people can continue to submit comments to bharrington@bendoregon.gov.

The location of that hearing may be in question, as one of the biggest issues people had was the small size of the city council chambers, which couldn’t accommodate everyone who wanted to attend.