Shaping Bend’s Future
A ‘quick’ 100-acre UGB expansion and a 20-year growth plan are both in the works.
By Corie Harlan, Cities and Towns Program Director, Central Oregon LandWatch
Important decisions that will guide Bend's growth are in the works and on the horizon.
Bend is one of the fastest growing and least affordable places in the state. To preserve our livability while tackling the challenges of rapid growth, an affordable housing shortage, and the impacts of drought and climate change, smart planning will continue to be key to Central Oregon’s thriving future.
And, the future of Bend is happening now. The City of Bend is beginning work that will guide our community’s growth now and for the next 20 to 50 years. LandWatch’s Cities & Towns team is and will be deeply involved with these efforts on the path ahead — and we’ll make sure our community knows the best times to make their voices heard along the way.
This is how, together, we’ll help ensure we’re growing well, with intention, and in ways that deliver Complete Communities to this place we all call home — mixed-use places within our city with housing options for all, nature nearby, access to essential services and amenities, and convenient, safe transportation options.
Here is an overview of what’s ahead, with a focus on the one-time, UGB expansion. We’ll share more about the 20-year Growth Plan and Urban Reserves Process in a future blog post. (And if you want to learn more now, check out the presentation that the Growth Management Team gave to City Council on July 17.)
A one-time 100-acre UGB expansion
In 2024, the state legislature passed Senate Bill 1537, which includes a menu of tools to help Oregon communities tackle their housing shortages. One of the tools in the bill is an expedited, one-time UGB expansions of up to 100 acres for cities with a population of 25,000 or greater. To be eligible to use this tool, cities must demonstrate a need for both housing and land. At least 30 percent of the housing built is subject to middle income affordability restrictions — and use of this tool must include Complete Community concept planning.
LandWatch doesn’t believe this optional tool is necessary, as it pulls staff focus and city resources away from other, more effective housing approaches and tools, which we outline below. It also ‘cuts to the front of the line’ and leapfrogs the more critical and holistic plan for our future: Bend’s 20 year Growth Plan. However, this tool is allowed under state law and the City has decided to move forward with using this tool within this timeline:
Bend's timeline for a one-time 100-acre UGB expansion.
Ensuring this expansion is a ‘down payment’ on future growth
Given that this approach is moving forward, LandWatch’s primary concern is getting the best outcome possible. That means ensuring that whatever acreage is included via this tool truly be a ‘down payment’ on any future, need-based UGB expansion — and not one-off opportunistic sprawl. We’ve heard this commitment from City Council, so it will be critical for the City to walk its talk and implement a process where land added to the UGB is land that would have been added via the larger 20-year growth planning effort.
To do this, the City’s process should prioritize “exception lands”(1) adjacent to the existing UGB, with infrastructure availability and/or serviceability, and that avoid areas with high fire risk and sensitive wildlife habitat. This ensures we are growing well and with intention — something that is a key priority for the Bend and Central Oregon community.
Addressing infrastructure needs
Map of Bend's Opportunity and Expansion Areas.
Another concern relates to infrastructure. Adding more land — when Bend needs investments in the lands we already have — could exacerbate existing infrastructure funding gaps and spreads scarce resources even thinner. In Bend’s expansion areas, there is a $101 million funding gap for transportation infrastructure alone.(2)
The City will need to consider and clarify how an expedited, one-time UGB expansion will address this ‘infrastructure gap’ issue to ensure places already planned for development aren’t languishing and are receiving the investments they need — especially Bend’s Opportunity and Expansions Areas, and soon-to-be-designated Climate Friendly Areas.
Having this clarity will further the effective use of the City’s limited resources, help make the most of the land we already have, and more successfully implement the City’s vision and plan for growth.
Other effective tools to tackle our housing shortage and deliver Complete Communities
There are also other effective approaches that can help Bend better manage future growth in ways that deliver Complete Communities and urgently meet our housing needs. Of the many policies and options on the table for addressing Bend’s housing shortage, few will have the positive impact that robust, sustained infrastructure funding will. Therefore, these approaches warrant consideration, prioritization, and focus on the path ahead:
Infill: Invest in infrastructure for housing — especially housing for those of moderate and lower incomes — inside Bend’s current UGB. Bend has many acres designated for residential use inside our existing UGB, but the lands lack key infrastructure, such as roads, sewers, water, or sidewalks. Investing in these lands is one of the most important steps the City can take now to unlock these parcels and get them “shovel-ready” to quickly develop and produce housing and more Complete Communities.
Advocacy at the State level to increase funding opportunities for infill/housing-related infrastructure is also needed and appropriate. LandWatch will continue to work with the City and local partners on these efforts in future legislative sessions.
Redevelopment: Incentivize housing production on the lands and in the buildings we already have. Bend has great redevelopment opportunities that are located near stores, schools and transportation options that need a range of infrastructure upgrades to bring thousands of homes online, including affordable homes. This includes thousands of housing units planned for areas like the Bend Central District and Core Area in Bend, and underused parking lots and commercial lands and buildings throughout our city. There’s also federal funding to redevelop housing in these locations.
The Bend Central District and Core Area are primed for redevelopment.
Moving infrastructure funding forward at the City and State level will be key to urgently increasing housing quantity, choice, and affordability in Bend and every Oregon community. LandWatch will continue to urge this Council to prioritize and focus on infill infrastructure investments that get lands within our existing UGB — particularly our Opportunity and Expansion Areas and soon-to-be-designated Climate Friendly Areas — ready for the development of much-needed housing and Complete Communities.
20 year Growth Plan and Urban Reserves
Given that the City is considering the future urbanization of lands outside the City of Bend, it is appropriate and necessary for the City’s efforts to include a 20 year land supply and climate focused growth plan — and we’re pleased to see this work kicking off. LandWatch is also supportive of moving an Urban Reserves planning process forward and has been requesting this approach to improve urban planningand development via the bi-annual City Council goal setting process for over five years. We’ll share more on these parts of the growth plan soon.
Footnotes/Sources
(1) 1 “Exception lands” are lands subject to acknowledged exceptions to statewide planning Goals 3 or 4. See OAR 660-021-0010. LandWatch recommends this prioritization of exception lands for UGB expansions because lands subject to acknowledged exceptions have been designated for non-farm and non-forest use since Deschutes County’s first comprehensive plan in 1979. Many non-resource lands, on the other hand, have been rezoned away from farm or forest use by Deschutes County only in the last decade. Exception lands adjacent to the UGB have long been candidates for possible urbanization.
(2) See page 112 of City of Bend Transportation System Plan