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City Councilors have scheduled a listening session about the future of Mirror Pond on Monday, April 22nd from 5:00 - 8:00 pm.
The meeting will be held at the Deschutes County building at 1300 NW Wall Street, in the Barnes and Sawyer rooms on the 1st floor. A panel will discuss: • The public involvement process • Long term plans for Mirror Pond Dam • The environmental perspective • Permits obtained for dredging After the panel, public comments will be taken (3 minutes per person). This is your chance to tell Councilors your ideas about Mirror Pond and the City's role.
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The Bend City Council recently announced the goals that it has adopted for the City (and itself) for the period July 2, 2019 through June 30, 2021.
Bend City Councilors on Wednesday approved an aggressive package of two-year goals for the City. The 2019-21 goals stay focused on core services provided by the City while addressing emerging issues such as mental health needs and wildfire resiliency. And, reflecting the community’s feedback from a recent statistically-valid survey, the goals place a heavy value on transportation and affordable housing. The Council Goals 2019-21 fall into four general categories: • Economic Vitality: Housing, Jobs, Managing Growth Strategies in this goal seek to increase opportunities for additional housing and housing types, affordable housing and employment lands through public-private partnerships. • Transportation & Infrastructure Strategies aim to maximize access and mobility for all users through a community-accepted funding plan. This requires an investment in transportation projects, including: Neff Road/Purcell Boulevard intersection, Reed Market Road/Bond Street roundabout, Highway 20/Greenwood Avenue sidewalks, Newport Avenue from College Way to 9th Street, Simpson Avenue/Columbia Street intersection, Butler Market Road/Wells Acres Road roundabout and other improvements. • Public Health & Safety Strategies aim to preserve current service levels and response times, address crime, add more support for mental health issues and homelessness and build wildfire resilience. • Effective & Efficient City Operations Strategies run the gamut from facility planning to managing data systems better to updating the City’s charter. Work will also include developing an equity, diversity and inclusion program. In their deliberations, Council added one additional action item under the Effective & Efficient City Operations Goal to develop a balance sheet that shows a financial snapshot of the City’s long term liabilities and financial commitments. City Council Goals influence how discretional funds are used in the upcoming, two-year budget planning process. The City anticipates requiring up to $5.6 million in additional revenue to implement this biennial work plan. The Council anticipates raising additional money primarily by raising franchise fees and increasing transportation system development charges. You can read more about the goals and their associated sub-objectives here: https://bend.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=9&event_id=320&meta_id=29993 BEND CITY COUNCIL VALUE STATEMENT We, the City Council, believe that Bend is a unique community that people are drawn to because it is an outstanding place to live. We desire to demonstrate consistent stewardship of resources and quality of life. We will be guided in decision-making by following these values as the foundation for public trust and confidence: INCLUSIVITY ∙ SUSTAINABILITY ∙ PARTNERSHIPS ∙ STEWARDSHIP ∙ RESPONSIVENESS And interestingly the city has a budget dashboard to look at revenue collection here: https://www.bendoregon.gov/government/departments/finance/financial-reports Greenwood Avenue to close to westbound traffic between Third Street and U.S. 97 for seven weeks3/21/2019 Greenwood Avenue, from Third Street west to U.S. 97 (Bend Parkway), will be closed to westbound traffic for approximately seven weeks beginning April 1, 2019. The closure is for the safety of the traveling public as BNSF Railway replaces railroad bridge decking on the bridge over Greenwood Avenue.
Westbound traffic on Greenwood Avenue, between Third Street and U.S. 97, will be detoured to Revere Avenue. Eastbound traffic on Greenwood Avenue will continue uninterrupted for the duration of the project. Greenwood Avenue closures and detours will be in place Monday through Thursday each week. All lanes of Greenwood Avenue will be open to both eastbound and westbound traffic Thursday evening through Sunday evening each week. The project is expected to be completed by May 17, 2019. Upon project completion, all lanes of Greenwood Avenue will resume normal eastbound and westbound operations. Deschutes County Public Information Officer, Sergeant William Bailey, recently posted to Nextdoor.com, encouraging residents to sign up for emergency alerts from the County.
In the event of an emergency, Deschutes County officials can identify an affected area and send a message that describes the situation and recommend protective actions. The system automatically calls all land-line and opt-in telephone numbers within an affected geographic area. Example events that may trigger a DAS alert include: Emergency Evacuations (Fire, Flooding, Public Welfare, etc.) Natural Disasters (Fire, Flooding, etc.), Missing or Endangered Children or Elderly, Hazardous Material Incidents, and Neighborhood Emergencies. Sign up here: https://www.deschutes.org/911/page/sign-deschutes-emergency-alerts The City is now livestreaming Bend Planning Commission meetings through the City website, similar to how City Council meetings have been provided online.
Meeting agendas and livestreaming links for Bend Planning Commission meetings can be found at www.bendoregon.gov/planningcommission. Videos will also be achieved for viewing after the meetings. “With all the high-profile land-use activities that the Planning Commission will be addressing as we move forward with implementing the community’s Growth Plan, we want to make sure these meetings are as accessible as possible to everyone interested in following these meetings,” said Planning Manager Colin Stephens. “Sometimes it’s hard to make it to City Hall on a Monday evening so now Planning Commission meetings can be viewed from the comfort of home.” Planning Commission meetings start at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall on the second and fourth Mondays of each month unless otherwise specified. The Planning Commission provides citizen involvement opportunities on land-use issues, conducts quasi-judicial and legislative public hearings on some types of land-use applications, and makes recommendations to City Council. City Council meetings have been livestreamed and archived through www.bendoregon.gov/councilagenda for many years. Contact: David Abbas Streets & Operations Director
541-317-3016, dabbas@bendoregon.gov Following community input and engineering analysis, speed limits will be lowered this month on the following road sections:
The new speed limit signs will have orange warning flags on top for a few weeks to call attention to the changes. These speed changes were requested by community members in response to changing traffic and development along the corridors. In Oregon, speeds for roads within the City that are not highways or local residential streets – such as the aforementioned road sections -- are set by the Department of Transportation. The new speed limits are established based on a traffic study that looks at existing driving speeds, road characteristics, adjacent land use, access locations and more. The City asks drivers to pay attention to the new speed changes and be aware of conditions. Oregon’s basic rule speed law requires driving at the speed that is safe for conditions – this may be a speed slower than the posted speed. With winter here, it is especially important to pay attention to your speed and road conditions. Drive safely. Contact: Grant Burke
Facilities Division Manager 541-317-3014, gburke@bendoregon.gov The Bend City Council recently approved Phase Two of a contract with Ameresco, an energy services company, to help the City improve energy efficiency and reduce fossil fuel use. The Council adopted Resolution 3044 in September 2016 with a goal of reducing the City’s fossil fuel use by 40 percent by 2030. Last year, Ameresco audited a variety of City facilities and operations as part of Phase One of its Strategic Energy Management Plan. The audit identified opportunities for reducing the City’s fossil fuel use and determined which projects to recommend for Phase Two. Projects to be included in Phase Two were selected based on their capacity to significantly reduce the City’s fossil fuel use, lower maintenance costs, and use less energy and/or water, which lowers operating costs for the City. Phase Two projects will improve energy efficiency in nine City facilities by upgrading lighting and lighting controls, conserving domestic water, improving building thermal performance, installing solar panels, and updating heating and cooling systems. The City will also upgrade street lighting to light-emitting diode (LED) lights in Phase Two. A full list of Phase Two projects can be found in the online issue summary. “We’re excited to get started on this important work with Ameresco,” said Senior Policy Analyst Gillian Ockner. “We’ll save money and reduce our carbon footprint. It’s an opportunity to save taxpayer dollars on operational costs and improve our energy efficiency at City facilities.” The estimated total cost for this phase of work will be $3.8 million. More than $300,000 in grants and other incentives has already been earned to help offset those costs. Annual savings to the City through reduced energy costs is expected to fully cover the costs for these improvements. “We learned a lot about the City of Bend’s energy usage through the audit we did last year,” said Joe O’Donnell, Northwest Region Sales Manager for Ameresco. “We are ready to work closely with the City on these projects to help them meet the goals of the Strategic Energy Management Plan.” These projects are expected to begin immediately and are scheduled to be completed by early 2020. To learn more about the City’s Strategic Energy Management Plan, visit www.bendoregon.gov/energy. Contact: Jon Skidmore
Assistant City Manager 541-693-2175, jskidmore@bendoregon.gov The City of Bend is seeking applicants for two positions on the Planning Commission. The City Council appoints members to four-year terms. The Planning Commission reviews and makes recommendations regarding land-use matters, subject to State law and City code. Consideration will be given to include representatives of the various geographical parts of the City of Bend, as well as familiarity with land-use and development within Bend. The current openings are for four-year terms beginning in January 2019, concluding at the end of December 2022. The City Council has focused attention on implementing the community’s growth plan, identified in the Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) expansion and accompanying Comprehensive Plan policies. This plan highlights the need for more urban-style development in opportunity areas, infill development, a variety of housing types to meet the community’s housing needs and master planning UGB expansion areas. The Planning Commission will continue to play a key role in the implementation of this plan. Familiarity with the concepts listed above is desirable. Applicants must be residents of the City of Bend. Applications will be accepted until 5 p.m. on Monday, February 4, 2019. To apply:
For more information regarding the Planning Commission visit the web site at: https://www.bendoregon.gov/planningcommission If your members haven't had a chance to complete the Community Climate Action Plan Survey, there's still time.
We Still Want to Hear from You! :) The City of Bend is creating a Community Climate Action Plan to reduce our carbon footprint community-wide. There are many actions we can take to reduce fossil fuels and increase our overall energy efficiencies. We want to hear from you (if you haven't already completed the survey) about which actions you think are right for Bend! Let us know what you think! Visit: go.participate.online/BendClimateSurvey For more information, visit http://www.bendoregon.gov/CCAP or contact Sustainability Coordinator Cassie Lacy at: clacy@bendoregon.gov or at 541/323-8587. The last day to take the Climate Action Survey is Sunday, February 3. |
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