Bend City Council public hearing tonight on transportation fee for southeast development

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Future development in a growing section of southeast Bend could soon face an additional fee, intended to help pay for new roads and other transportation improvements.

This evening, the Bend City Council will hold a public hearing on a proposed supplemental transportation system development charge (SDC) for the Southeast Area Plan. SDCs are a one-time fee, generally collected when a building permit is issued; the proposed charge would distribute the cost of major shared transportation projects among future developments expected to benefit from them.

According to the agenda, councilors are expected to consider adopting the fee at Wednesday's hearing.

The proposal is not approval of a specific subdivision or development -- it would apply to future projects within a mapped area, generally bordered by SE 15th Street, Ferguson Road, SE 27th Street, and Knott Road.

The amount paid by each project or development would vary based on the size and type of development and the traffic its expected to generate.

The new charge would be added to existing citywide transportation, water, and sewer SDCs, as well as a separate supplemental sewer fee already established for the SE area. Certain affordable housing, homeless shelters, and childcare facilities would be exempt.

The Bend City Council business meeting begins at 6:00 p.m. at Bend City Hall. People can attend or testify in person, while those who want to testify remotely must register for the Zoom meeting before 6:00 p.m. Written comments can also be emailed to council@bendoregon.gov.

KTVZ's Claire Elmer is digging deeper into the proposed SDC. Stay tuned for the full report, coming up only on KTVZ News.