REDMOND – The Redmond City Council recently voted on some big changes to the city’s comprehensive plan that will help accommodate the area’s rapid growth.

Most cities in Central Oregon have a comprehensive plan, which outlines a city’s values and plans and provides a road map for implementing them.

Redmond’s plan will now contain one requirement not found in other comprehensive plans in Central Oregon. The plan contains a few more conditions that will govern the way new land is brought into city limits, said Redmond city officials.

The need for the comprehensive plan changes arises from an ongoing urban growth boundary expansion in Redmond, which is expected to provide more residential land and should reduce housing prices, said Redmond Mayor Alan Unger.

Once the changes take effect, two major areas will be affected.

First, the plan will be amended to expand the limits of the city’s urban growth boundary by 2,299 acres, according to Redmond planning staff.

The urban growth boundary is a bank of land adjacent to the city limits of Redmond that should provide it with enough room to grow for 20 years, according to state land use rules.

The second change will dictate that every piece of land brought into city limits must be master-planned before development can occur.

A master plan is an extensive outline for how an area will develop. For instance, a master plan points out where roads, sewer lines and water lines will run. It reflects where houses and business centers will be located, and it describes what types of homes and businesses will be found there.

No other city in Oregon requires master planning for every new piece of land brought into the city limits, said Redmond Planning Manager Nick Lelack.

”Master planning allows us to consider how large areas will generally develop,” Lelack said. ”It’s how we can ensure that our neighborhoods incorporate the elements that are essential to making great neighborhoods.”

In addition to the two major changes to the comprehensive plan, the city also adopted a framework plan that outlines exactly how the city will provide roads, water and sewer to new areas brought into the urban growth boundary.

The City Council is expected to vote again on the changes before they go into effect Sept. 1.

The Deschutes County Commission is expected to vote on Redmond’s urban growth boundary changes later this month, and the entire urban growth boundary expansion process and related comprehensive plan changes will be sent on to the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development for final approval.