This is a great city, in part because of great planning. The Juniper Ridge business park has been part of the city growth plan since about 2005. A great deal of time, resources and tax dollars have been invested in this logical plan. To deviate from this plan and use a large segment of the business park as a homeless camp would impact the business park in a severely detrimental manner. What company is going to pick a site next to a homeless camp to grow their business?

Poor planning on the city’s part by not having a solid understanding of the legalities of railroad crossings was a major factor in the causation of this “emergency.” To rush through another poorly thought out plan hiding behind House Bill 4212 is just wrong, will only make the homeless issue worse and will cause the city as a whole to suffer. This plan does not pass, “The Smell Test.”

The Bend economic development director noted at a meeting with the Boyd Acres Neighborhood Association on Oct. 30 that from a wildfire standpoint the Juniper Ridge area is the most inaccessible area surrounding the city. There was no safe way for firefighters to enter the Juniper Ridge area no matter how well trained or equipped they were while attempting to fight last summer’s fire. The only way the fire was stopped from burning houses was through aerial firefighting measures. The people you are attempting to place on this site started the fire. The director noted that there are approximately 500 homeless camps in the greater Bend area. Many of these would end up at the proposed site. It will become unmanageable, and fires are bound to occur. The city placing homeless at this site knowing this information would incur numerous lawsuits and possibly suffer catastrophic damage awards if a fire started at this site were to damage businesses and/or residences. This alone is reason to find another site.

The economic development director talked of developing a full hookup (water, electricity, sewer) RV park in Juniper Ridge as part of Phase 2. The director mentioned that part of the park would be devoted to homeless but other parts of the RV park would be open to other people including the construction workers who are going to build the next Suterra and Les Schwab. The homeless and construction workers living side by side? If this comes to fruition, it would kill the business park, wasting millions of tax dollars, so there would be no construction or need for construction workers.

The city of Bend has a proud history of transparency and the inclusion of community stakeholders in the major decisions made by the city. In this situation, The Juniper Ridge Management Advisory Board, The Boyd Acres Neighborhood Association, Suterra, Les Schwab, BMS Industries and the two nearby schools were not included in the decision-making process. There is a difference between what you can do and what you should do. This plan would impact our entire community negatively for many years to come. The short -sighted Draconian handling of this situation is un-Bend -like, and those members of the council who attempt to push this plan through will be remembered come election time and in infamy.

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