Businesses, groups join Pahlisch Homes in challenge to Bend tree code; mayor defends ‘reasonable, balanced’ rules

(Update: Adding video, comments from Pahlisch Homes and COBA)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- A group of organizations and businesses announced Wednesday they have joined in a legal action by Pahlisch Homes to require the City of Bend to pause the implementation of a new tree code policy that they claim will further increase Bend’s sky-high housing costs.

"I think there is some clear understanding that needs to happen from the city to the general population, on top of just the builders," said Jason Myhre, Pahlisch Homes' chief information officer.

Bend YIMBY (“Yes In My Back Yard”), Brooks Resources, the Central Oregon Association of Realtors, Central Oregon Builders Association, Empire Construction & Development, and Hayden Homes all joined a motion to intervene filed with the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals in support of the appeal filed by Pahlisch Homes on Aug. 6.

“We are asking City of Bend’s elected leaders to reconsider, and take another crack at doing a better job of balancing our priority need for housing in this community with tree preservation,” Jim Roberts, with Bend YIMBY, said in a news release Wednesday, prompting a statement by Mayor Melanie Kebler.

In Oregon, land-use laws require that most residential buildings occur within city limits in order to protect farm and forestland while providing adequate land inside the city for housing development.

"What ultimately came out of that was a series of recommendations on which there was never support from the tree committee," said COBA VP of Government Affairs Morgan Greenwood. "So every vote was a split vote. And in some cases, there were some issues that we weren't allowed to vote on at all, and the staff moved ahead without any comment from the tree committee. "

The City Council’s new code seeks to provide additional protections to the urban tree canopy inside city limits to provide shade, livability and assist in prevention of climate change. But the critics say the code will also make it more difficult and costly to build on residential land in the city, causing two main impacts on housing:

• Discouraging or preventing housing production on many city lots because of the location of trees, making it more difficult to increase Bend’s housing supply
• Adding cost to housing by imposing a hefty fee-in-lieu, or tax, when trees are removed to build homes, adding new costs to housing across the city

Parties to the motion stressed that they aren’t asking the city to throw out the policy, but instead to amend key elements that better balance community housing concerns. 

“We can’t reiterate strongly enough that the intent of our appeal is not to discount the valuable goal of tree preservation,” said Dan Pahlisch. “But this tree code is adding new costs to housing in Bend, forcing builders to walk away from projects that would have otherwise penciled, or to increase sales prices instead — further driving up housing costs.”

The parties to the motion say the policy isn’t balanced and that reasonable requests for compromise were ignored by city leaders, including a slate of clear recommendations that would have allowed for tree preservation but also supported more affordability. 

“The cost of housing is a concern for more and more people and employers across our community,” said Greenwood, “This motion to intervene is an attempt to bring the City Council back to the table on behalf of working families who cannot afford higher housing costs. By working more closely together we believe we can find a better approach to the tree code that achieves preservation goals AND is accountable to community’s housing concerns.”

The parties said they hope the city will agree to meet and seriously consider a number of specific recommendations for lessening the costly impacts of the code on housing in Bend, while also adding valuable protections for trees. 

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Statement from Bend Mayor Melanie Kebler:

“Concern for the health of Bend’s urban canopy is widespread in our community, and the City Council heard from many voices throughout the development of the updated tree code. Those voices included some of the people now suing the city, who were members of the Tree Regulation Update Advisory Committee.

"That committee produced a recommended policy that was a compromise between all sides. At our final hearing, Council then made further changes to the code based on feedback from the development community. We did not ignore requests to compromise, and the code is reasonable and balanced.

"For many years, the Bend City Council has consistently made policy changes to support the development of needed housing in our city. Bend is building more homes per capita than any other city in the state. Housing affordability remains a top goal for the Council, and we will continue the policy work to remove barriers to housing and lower housing costs.”