Smaller, Eastside version of Westside Consortium
By Barney Lerten, KTVZ.COM
The Bend City Council holds a public hearing Wednesday night on a proposal to partner with a southeast Bend developer to speed construction of the city's first two-lane roundabout, at 15th Street and Reed Market Road.
Elkhorn Development has won city approval for a 368-lot planned unit development called Shadow Glen, the first of what city staff expect to be many developments of vacant land in the area.
The council is getting a hefty set of documents - development agreements, memorandums of understanding and resolutions - to work with Elkhorn on the $2.3 million roundabout, as well as sewer and water improvements in the area.
"Rather than provide infrastructure that just serves the PUD, both the city and the developer have been working as a team to develop a process for creating infrastructure that will not only serve the PUD, but also serve future development in the area," according to an issue summary prepared by Public Works Director Ken Fuller and Engineering Manager Michael Magee.
The builder would contribute $625,000 toward the roundabout's cost - plus up to $675,000 more, to get the project moving, for which it would be eligible for "system development charge" (SDC) reimbursement. If the project exceeds the $2.3 million estimate, the city would cover that amount.
The process is much the same, though smaller in scale, as the Westside Consortium, a partnership between the city and several west Bend developers. That joint arrangement drew criticism a few years ago for the closed-door discussions that led to agreements and several roundabouts that paved the way for new development.
Elkhorn Development has agreed to build infrastructure with capacity beyond that needed by its own project, which means it will be eligible for reimbursements.
Also, the two city staff members said the city has major projects under way that overlap the developer's plans, "so it behooves the city and the developer to work together toward the best possible infrastructure for the citizens of Bend."
The documents up for possible "first reading" (preliminary approval) by the council include waivers to the competitive bid process, which Fuller and Magee said would lead to "cost and time savings." Elkhorn, for example, has offered to build the roundabout with its own contractor, following city protocols.
