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Bend Mayor Presents State of the City

BEND, OR -- Bend has felt the pains of recent exponential growth. City leaders will discuss how to manage housing and other issues, in Tuesday evening's "State of the City" address. Mayor Casey Roats will speak at Deschutes Brewery, beginning at 5 p.m. Assistant City Manager Jon Skidmore and Community Services Director Russ Grayson are also scheduled to discuss the planning and projects Bend's future.


Mayor Roats tells KBND News, "I really do believe we're on the path towards meeting a bunch of these needs. And, it's going to take a while for the market to react, and it's going to take a little bit longer for us to finish these plans in these new expansion areas and hopefully create the incentive for folks to want to develop that housing that we need so desperately in those areas." He adds, "I think one of the things we're going to try and do is match livability with these growth needs. And, a lot of these higher density units are going to come in places that don't abut existing neighborhoods. To the extent I can, that's what I'm working on, is trying to meet these needs and yet stay away from existing neighborhoods. That's why I'm focusing on the Central Area, in between Third Street and the Parkway, where there's not a lot of residences."

 

As a fourth generation Bendite, Roats says he's seen a lot of change, "A lot of that comes down to the investments we're going to be making as a community, and the pieces and assets of infrastructure, in particular, that make it that way. So, one of those is land use planning and making sure we have the land we need for employment opportunities and housing, because housing is such a critical shortage. We're prioritizing our resources around the city's core service areas, in particular, the street preservation and maintaining the city's streets."
 
The State of the City event is part of the Bend Chamber's What's Brewing series. 

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