The city of Bend wants public input as it figures out how to prepare the Third Street corridor in the center of town for future development.

On Thursday evening, city planners are scheduled to discuss the potential creation of a Multimodal Mixed-use Area — which emphasizes higher density commercial and residential development and travel by foot, bike or bus — along with the area’s boundaries and possible impacts.

“If the majority of people don’t want to do the MMA then that kind of falls by the wayside, and maybe we have more of a special planned district,” Bend Senior Planner Wendy Robinson told members of the Bend Economic Development Advisory Board on Tuesday.

The plan uses as a framework the city’s 2007 Central Area Plan, a concept to urbanize the area stretching roughly from the east side of the Bend Parkway to Northeast Fourth Street, between Revere and Burnside avenues.

In 2012, Robinson said, the city applied for, and later received, a state grant to continue work on the Central Area Plan and study whether the area was eligible for designation as a Multimodal Mixed-Use Area.

Such areas do not have to meet a state transportation rule regarding automobile congestion, making redevelopment easier. But since the state accepted the city’s transportation plan, she said, the multimodal designation is no longer necessary to change the zoning in the area.

While a designation would emphasize high-density development and alternative transportation, it also could bring greater traffic congestion, reduced on-site parking for businesses and restrictions on new automobile-related development, such as drive-thrus and dealerships.

Bend Business Advocate Carolyn Eagan said the city also needs to figure out if recommendations from the Central Area Plan are still valid after seven years. And other advisory board members stressed the importance of involving business and property owners in discussion of the corridor before making any plans.

“I’d like to see more of what the business plan is and what the vision is for business, rather than these nice areas for people to walk with trees and stuff that I saw at the presentation,” said Wally Corwin, one of 13 Bend Economic Development Advisory Board members.

“I’m more interested in what’s the plan and how is it going to affect business? How it’s going to affect the businesses that are there, and why the trade-off should be made?”

—Reporter: 541-617-7818,

rrees@bendbulletin.com