A marathon Bend City Council meeting last (wed) night had councilors tabling several proposals.

Topics included public comments from plastic bag bans to Mirror Pond and the 15th Street - Reed Market roundabout.

But one of the most contentious debates by the public came with the consideration of changing a stretch of Highway 97 from an “Expressway” back to a highway.

Resident Michel Bayard says he fears losing a lot of business if the road remains an expressway - eliminating access to business on the north end of Bend.

"What I’m afraid of is in the long term, the expressway designation will affect the economic health of the city and it's livability, and create another north-sough barrier to traffic within the city. We already have one barrier, which is the railroad, we don't need another one."

ODOT 's spokesperson - Bob Bryant said they would be willing to work with city staffers to clarify what the city wants with the road in that area.

Other hot topics included stable funding for the Bend Fire Department, comment on changing some ordinances and codes that will affect new roads on the COCC Campus; streamlining some code that regulates the city’s Non-Residential Zoning Districts and always a hot button: SWIP.  It was after 11 p.m. by then, and some people who wanted to comment had given up and gone home.  But what the council was to consider actually just had to do with language in LUBA (Land Use Board of Appeals) remands.