Some housing ideas are better than others;

No matter how much some people wish, Bend is not going to freeze in time. It’s going to grow. The question is: How should it grow?

Some of the policies the city is considering to increase the supply of housing are better than others. The goal of this new policy batch is to create more of what’s called middle-market housing. That’s housing affordable to middle-income people. It could be in the gap between apartment buildings and single-family homes. Think townhomes, multiplexes or even single-family homes that are relatively small. Bend 2030, a local nonprofit, facilitated a series of meetings to come up with options.

One promising idea is allowing fourplexes in Bend’s standard residential zone. The city already allows duplexes and triplexes. Of course, fourplexes do have social costs. They increase density. They may alter the character of a neighborhood. They can create more parking problems on city streets. But it does seem a reasonable possible change.

Another promising idea is to allow a nearby park to be considered in requirements for open space for a new development. With front- and backyards shrinking, people need open spaces near their homes. As long as a park is adjacent to a new development or a short distance away, it is reasonable to consider the park as open space for the development.

Some of the other ideas favored by the committee are much more debatable. One proposal is to offer tiered system development charges. In other words, smaller homes would pay less than bigger homes as a way of incentivizing more density.

First of all, tiered SDCs would seem to undermine the supposed purpose of system development charges. SDCs are charges on new development that are used to help pay for the necessary accompanying infrastructure — new parks, sewers, streets and water. Bigger homes don’t necessarily use significantly more city infrastructure than smaller homes.

Moreover, there are already financial incentives for smaller homes. One is price. Another is the property tax bill.

Bend is likely to get more dense because of pressure from state officials and land use law. The Bend City Council needs to do more, though, than just pick and choose the less painful ways for the city to get more dense. For one, it needs to ensure that residents can easily get to the open space of Bend’s parks and the nearby federal lands. The Bend Park & Recreation District is trying to make it easier for city residents to connect to the Deschutes National Forest south of Bend with a bridge over the Deschutes River. Where is the council’s support for that?

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