A 150-acre development outside the northern edge of Bend, called Caraway, earned a nod from the city’s planning commission Monday.

The development will bring new housing, both affordable and market rate, and commercial amenities to an area currently outside of city limits that’s been primed for urban expansion.

Transportation was a major focus of a public hearing before the planning commission Monday night. The Caraway development requires two new roundabouts, a reconfiguration of a portion of Hunnell Road, which was well-known as a home base for local homeless people until recently, and more than three miles of trails and multiuse paths.

The development will cause major impacts to the Oregon Department of Transportation’s current north corridor project on U.S. Highway 97 — so much so that Caraway’s developer, Pahlisch Homes Inc., will have to pay to mitigate those impacts, said ODOT area manager Bob Townsend. That money could go toward improvements at the U.S. Highway 97 and Empire Avenue interchange, he said.

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The Caraway development is bounded by Cooley Road to the south, Highway 97 to the east and U.S. Highway 20 to the west. If approved by the City Council, Caraway would also be adjacent to Gateway North, where a new Costco is slated to be built.

The majority of the planning commission recommended that the Bend City Council approve preliminary plans for more than 500 units of housing within Caraway. However one commissioner, Suzanne Johannsen, was concerned about schoolchildren being near major roads.

Johannsen voted no, in the end, because schools, particularly for elementary-aged children, wouldn’t be located within Caraway, meaning families must rely on their vehicles for safe transportation.

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Johannsen also took issue with 2016 data being used to determine how much and what kind of housing is needed in Bend’s eligible expansion areas like the one in which Caraway is located.

“There should be some kind of recognition that we are a really rapidly growing community and we ought to be taking that into consideration,” Johannsen said.

City Senior Planner Karen Swenson said 2016 data wouldn’t typically be so out of date, but Bend has grown very rapidly. New housing and economic analyses at the city are in progress, Swenson said.

“That will dictate when and where future urban growth boundary expansion will occur,” she said.

Of the more than 500 housing units, Pahlisch Homes committed to at least 77 deed-restricted affordable units, 106-192 multifamily units and the property will be subdivided to include 333 lots for single-family homes and 68 lots for town homes.

However, before development can occur, commercial or residential, Pahlisch will be responsible for providing sewer and water access to the land. Plus, the land, which is all known as the North Triangle Expansion Area, must be annexed into city limits, which must be approved by the City Council. That entire expansion area is roughly 182 acres, which includes some property whose owners elected to not be part of Caraway, Joey Shearer, the land use planner for the development said Monday night.

Pahlisch, which is headquartered in Bend, owns the majority of the property within Caraway. However, there are some private property owners that are in contract with Pahlisch.

Caraway’s plan and annexation are tentatively scheduled to go before the City Council for approval on Sept. 20, which would allow Pahlisch to begin subdividing the land as early as before the end of the year.