Housing equality for Bend: challenge exclusion on Awbrey Butte
Bend City Council, Planning Commission, Planning Department
Compass Corner is a mixed-use project with 40 homes located above ground floor retail space - perhaps a coffee shop - on the Northeast slope of Awbrey Butte. These homes are different though. Unlike the luxury single family units nearby, they are apartments and this has made some people very upset.
The opponents have created a website, established a Limited Liability Company (LLC), set up a GoFundMe page to raise thousands of dollars and have plastered the butte with signage in public right of ways claiming they want to “save” the entire butte - all to stop housing from being built in a city without enough homes to go around. Their arguments ring hollow and simply boil down to not wanting this type of housing in “their" neighborhood. We think that all neighborhoods in Bend should have housing of all shapes and sizes.
The property has long been zoned for this, and plenty of neighbors have expressed desire for a coffee shop or cafe nearby. Please join us in saying “YES!” to these homes!
Sponsored by
To:
Bend City Council, Planning Commission, Planning Department
From:
[Your Name]
Mayor Kebler, Councilors, Planning Commission members and Bend planning staff,
We urge you to approve the Compass Corner proposal.
This project has gone through several concepts and we’ve been supportive of all of them. We remain supportive because we still need the homes in Bend, the land has long been zoned for this type of use and the neighborhood is ripe for small scale retail services.
We believe that homes of all shapes and sizes throughout the city are vastly more important than opponent’s concerns about what type of housing is aesthetically appropriate to build nearby. As such we urge the city to approve this development so that this neighborhood can get a needed dose of retail and help supply housing to those who want it.
Thank you,
Bend YIMBY