Bend Park & Rec Board discusses future fee waivers for affordable housing
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The Bend Park & Recreation District Board met Tuesday night to discuss several topics, including a proposal to waive more development fees for affordable housing units in the city.
Historically, the board had denied waiving or reducing the system development charges (SDCs) charged for new construction to help fund growth-related projects, but that all changed in 2019.
The board agreed at the city's request to waive SDCs for the first 400 affordable housing units through 2022. But already, they are nearing the cap on waivers of the fee, which can top $7,000 for a single-family home.
The current waiver has cost the district roughly $2.3 million in revenue, which left some community members writing in to express their discontent during the virtual meeting. Other people and agencies, meanwhile, have recently urged the board to lift the cap and thus help more affordable housing projects happen.
George Wuerthner of Bend was just one of several community members who filed comments opposed to further fee waivers, and his was read aloud to the board by Executive Director Don Horton.
"I am very opposed to waiving park fees," Wuerthner wrote. "While I am sympathetic to the challenges people face buying a house in Bend, we should find others ways to make housing affordable than making a less attractive place for everyone."
Bend Park and Rec noted that SDCs are meant to provide funds for new growth and development, not operations and maintenance.
The district said these one-time charges have helped pay for areas like Shevlin Park, the Riley Ranch Nature Reserve and the Larkspur Community Center.
The board also discussed a memorandum of understanding with the city of Bend to address possible changes to a proposed Mirror Pond fish passage.
The resolution calls for the city to work with the park district to update the 2015 Mirror Pond community vision.
Some questions were raised as to whether the new city council would be willing to jointly move forward on the possible project.
Horton was quick to back the intergovernmental agreement, based on his conversations with City Manager Eric King.
"This won't be discussed by the current board. It's going be discussed by the new city council members," Horton said. "So, I think we'll know pretty soon with the IGA discussions if they're committed to the full dollar amount or not."
Horton said he estimates the district's cost for the project will be roughly $10,000.
The resolutions provide that the city and the district would enter into the agreement to accomplish the updated community vision.
