Leilani Rapaport/The BulletinOSU-Cascades has plans to build a four-year campus on 10 acres near the Southwest Chandler Avenue and Century Drive roundabout. On Wednesday, the Bend City Council made formal its rejection of an appeal of the project but the opponents could appeal to the state.

Opponents of OSU-Cascades’ plans for a west-side campus now have 21 days to appeal the project for a second time.

At a meeting Wednesday night, the Bend City Council officially denied an initial appeal of the campus submitted by Truth In Site, an organization of residents concerned about the university’s potential impact on traffic. The first appeal targeted a decision by an independent hearings officer who ruled at the beginning of September to approve the site. That appeal was reviewed by the City Council on Sept. 29.

During that meeting, the council indicated it believed the project met city code. On Wednesday, council members made the decision official, unanimously voting to deny the appeal and approve the campus. During the meeting, Aaron Henson, a Bend city planner, said the city would formally notify Truth In Site today, starting a 21-day period in which a second appeal can be filed with the state Land Use Board of Appeals.

Scott Morgan, Truth In Site’s spokesman, was not present, but the organization earlier indicated it plans to appeal to LUBA.

In other business, Wendy Robinson, a Bend senior planner, presented the council with the final version of what is called the Central District Multimodal Mixed-Use Area Plan, referred to as the MMA. The plan, funded with support from the Oregon departments of Transportation and Land Conservation and Development, provides a vision for transit within an area the city has targeted for increased density.

The MMA, which the council has not adopted and won’t consider for some time, applies to the land east from the Bend Parkway to Fourth Street, and south from Revere Avenue to the railroad overpass.

“You’re going to see taller buildings and greater lot coverage,” Robinson said. “It will have more of a downtown feel.”

The focus of her presentation concerned changes to Second, Third and Fourth streets. On all those streets, Robinson said, bike lanes would be added. On Third north of Franklin Avenue, lanes would be narrowed, while south of Franklin, Third would be reduced to two total travel lanes and a left-turn lane.

“We acknowledge there will be congestion and it will be somewhat slower,” Robinson said.

Robinson said these changes would facilitate the transformation of the area into “another icon of Bend,” capable of supporting businesses that rely on foot traffic and residents who want transportation options beyond driving.

Any implementation of the MMA will be affected by decisions made in the city’s Urban Growth Boundary Remand project, which will determine how the city hopes to expand geographically and change development patterns within current city limits. That process is ongoing and estimated to end in 2016.

While the state has required the city to embrace more density, Councilor Scott Ramsay said he was concerned about more traffic hitting Third Street.

“I hear from people that a slowdown could be a disaster,” Ramsay said.

— Reporter: 541-633-2160, tleeds@bendbulletin.com