A collaborative effort between Deschutes County and the city of Bend to manage one of the region’s largest homeless encampments is on the verge of collapsing after county commissioners refused Wednesday to approve a guiding legal agreement for a 170-acre designated camping area.

Elected officials from each jurisdiction in September unanimously approved — and celebrated — a plan to create a “safe-stay” homeless area at Juniper Ridge just north of Bend. But without assurances of an agreement, the city opted Wednesday evening to divert soon-to-expire federal funding to other safe parking projects if the county doesn’t change its mind by Oct. 23, which would effectively kill the agreement.

Bend Mayor Melanie Kebler said the city was ready to vote to move forward with the plan on Wednesday.

“The Deschutes County Board of Commissioners’ failure to adopt a resolution implementing our agreement from September is an extremely disappointing development,” Kebler said in a statement Wednesday. “Our joint city and county constituents are demanding action.”

The Deschutes County Commission and Bend City Council came together Sept. 5 under growing public pressure to address homelessness on swaths of city and county land east of U.S. Highway 97, spurred by a fast-moving and home-threatening August wildfire determined to have started from a homeless camp cooking fire.

They created a plan to close 1,000 acres of city land to camping by May 31, 2025, and ramp up case management services for homeless residents who would be consolidated to a 170-acre “temporary safe stay area” between the highway and Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad tracks. They also agreed to work on wildfire-fuel reduction projects.

A resolution drafted by city and county staff would have committed each to sharing costs and efforts for setting up the site, including service provisions, security patrols and cleanup efforts. The proposed resolution also stated the safe-stay area would not be open to people not living in vehicles or people not already living at Juniper Ridge.

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Kebler said she viewed the resolution as the “first step” to reaching agreement on more details later on.

She praised Commissioner Tony DeBone, who made a motion to adopt the resolution.

“I’m very distraught thinking we’re going to just put this on the shelf again,” he said. “Let’s start with something.”

But signing a dotted line gave pause to Commissioners Phil Chang and Patti Adair, who feared that prescribing land for camping would create future land use battles.

“I fully support the city and county working and investing together to offer facilities and services that are going to help people in the north Juniper Ridge area,” Chang said during a county board meeting Wednesday. “I do not think that our first draft joint resolution is the right format to accomplish that.”

Land use debate

Chang said he would rather partner with the city in a series of intergovernmental agreements. He said he believes that because the county is already providing trash dumpsters, toilets, hand-washing stations and drinking water on its 50 acres of property where people are camping, there’s no need to make a legal assertion about the use of the property.

Since last summer, the county has spent $229,000 on trash, water, toilet and security services at Juniper Ridge.

The city has spent $122,000 on cleanup, according to a presentation last month.The county this year drafted an intergovernmental agreement to share costs of other services with the city, but the agreement was never adopted, said Erik Kropp, deputy administrator with Deschutes County.

Last June, Deschutes County filed a code enforcement case against its own property, citing risks to health and safety due to waste and garbage buildup and unsafe uses of a nearby irrigation canal. The county formed a plan to remove people from the land but never executed it.

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City and county legal departments fundamentally disagree about whether a homeless facility is allowed on the land, which is mostly zoned for exclusive farm use. Peter Gutowsky, community development director with Deschutes County, told commissioners the proposed safe-stay area would not meet the requirements established by 2021 state legislation, House Bill 2006, allowing emergency shelters to sidestep local land use laws.

Signing the resolution, Gutowsky said, would be acknowledging use of the property as a homeless facility. That would allow a legal challenge to the state Land Use Board of Appeals, for which the county would be on the hook.

“I am tired of land use drama in Deschutes County,” Chang said in an interview. “I am embarrassed for my community how much this county has tried to test and test and push the state land use planning system.”

Bend City Attorney Mary Winters refuted the county’s belief that signing the resolution would open the door to land use appeals. A managed vehicle camp would be allowed outside the city’s urban growth boundary, she said.

Unclear path forward

Kebler said the city is still committed to finding solutions at Juniper Ridge, but can’t do so without help from the county.

Chang and Adair said they would still support working with the city, but not under the formal resolution.

Even if plans for collaboration are revived, the delay will make it difficult to meet the goal of setting up the camp before next fire season.

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Wednesday’s setback continues a troubled relationship between the city and county in taking cohesive action to address homelessness. Last year the county backed out of a plan to support a managed homeless camp on city of Bend property, citing location issues.

“It’s just not fair and not right that the first solid solution we’ve had for Juniper Ridge in years is going to be torn apart,” said Bend City Councilor Megan Perkins. “This sets us back for a very long time, and there’s a lot of uncertainty that I thought we didn’t have.”

“It’s very disappointing to see this derailed,” Bend City Councilor Mike Riley said.

The city had allocated $660,000 of it’s $1.4 million in federal funding to the Juniper Ridge project, but it’s likely that will now go toward setting up new safe parking, along with another $700,000. Bend City Manager Eric King said the city needs to start working on contracts for the funds almost immediately to ensure they are obligated by a Dec. 31 deadline.

Deschutes County earlier this year earmarked $1.5 million in similar federal funds for outdoor homeless camps. While not yet allocated, that money has now been pulled in several directions, from a slate of safe parking and managed camp proposals to a 45-acre managed camp in Redmond to the safe-stay area at Juniper Ridge.

“It’s just not fair and not right that the first solid solution we’ve had for Juniper Ridge in years is going to be torn apart. This sets us back for a very long time.”

— Bend City Councilor Megan Perkins