HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo to County 2-24-14
M e m o r a n d u m
To: Tom Anderson, Deschutes County
From: Jon Skidmore, City of Bend
Subject: City request for TGM funding match
Date: February 24, 2014
The City received $150,000 to $200,000 from the Transportation Growth Management
(TGM) grant program to conduct an integrated transportation and land use study for the
central and westside of Bend. The area includes the new OSU Cascades campus area
as well as the old Deschutes County land fill site. The City is working to generate a local
match of $100,000 by requesting $25,000 from Deschutes County, OSU Cascades and
the Bend Metro Parks and Recreation District for the TGM grant. The City will provide
$25,000 as well.
The following is a list of reasons why Deschutes County would benefit from the
TGM planning project. The project will:
Continue on-going community planning collaboration: The TGM planning
process will be a collaborative effort between the City, Deschutes County, Bend
Parks and Rec, OSU Cascades and the community; each entity has plans that
will impact the west side of town, working together is the best way to identify and
address community concerns.
Conduct public outreach about land use and transportation issues and
solutions: The TGM project will engage the public in a discussion about the
impacts of growth generated from a variety of potential development scenarios
on the west side of Bend. This discussion will be on a grander scale than the
specific land fill site, but will be in a manner similar to how Deschutes County
would have to work with the public to entitle and/or develop the land fill site.
Outreach is expensive and time consuming. Further by teaming with various
land owners and stakeholders on the west side of Bend, we have a larger context
within which to discuss a number of projects versus specific proposals.
Create, analyze, and conduct land use and transportation scenarios: The
effort for the County to perform the transportation and land use analysis in order
to rezone and develop the land fill site will be expensive and time consuming with
studies and public outreach; the TGM planning project will analyze transportation
and land use planning scenarios that are typically the first stages of planning and
development. We expect that the County will take this opportunity to inform the
scenario development process so that the resulting studies and
recommendations accommodate desired entitlement strategies for the land fill
site.
Develop and implement code amendments: The TGM project is intended to
develop land use and transportation code amendments that will provide a clear
path for specific areas, such as the land fill site, to develop.
I appreciate this opportunity to provide some initial comments on the TGM project and
the benefits it will provide to the partner agencies we plan to work with on the study. We
will be in attendance at the County Commission work session on February 24 to answer
any questions or provide more information.
Thank you.