University of Oregon landscape architecture student Wendy Palamara is going to give Greenwood Avenue a face lift. At least on paper.

For the 25-year-old student, the redesign project is for credit, and upon completion, it’s her ticket out of school.

For the Bend Development Board (BDB), which is in the early stages of its plan to spruce up the blighted area, it’s an opportunity to get a fresh infusion of ideas from someone who is not constrained by politics or budget considerations, said Robin Gyorgyfalvy, a member of the board’s Greenwood Avenue subcommittee.

”The BDB would ordinarily hire a consultant to dive right into it,” she said. ”We felt, especially with a student and with a fresh approach, we could spend more time on the vision part (of the project).”

The board could incorporate some of Palamara’s ideas into a real working plan.

”I think it’s a unique opportunity that they’re willing to work with me and at least look over my ideas,” said Palamara, who is in her fifth and final year at the university. ”…That’s pretty exciting for me to actually see something, maybe, that was designed by me.”

After talking to a couple of her professors, Palamara decided on Bend, a place she had traveled through many times with her family on their way to Sunriver.

She connected with Gyorgyfalvy, also a landscape architecture graduate from the U. of O., and decided on a redesign of Greenwood Avenue for her two-term comprehensive project.

The only guidelines the development board gave Palamara were to consider land use and transportation issues that are pushing traffic onto Greenwood, and to consider any changes that could happen on Third Street.

”It’s a real blight almost,” Palamara said. ”It’s not the warm welcome that (the board) wants to lead into the downtown area, because they’ve really done so much to make the downtown area beautiful.”

A stream of empty buildings and nondescript business fronts line Greenwood Avenue before it ducks under the Bend Parkway going east.

The heavily used street, which is a crucial east/west connection coming out of downtown, is a mockery of the vacant stores alongside it.

Palamara is in the diagnostic stage of the design, evaluating what is currently there and the potential for change.

”Things that I’m thinking of now are really general,” she said. The street should be more pedestrian friendly, allowing more access.

Changing some of the building facades could lend color and character to the area. And trees and public art could make it more aesthetically pleasing.

But, ”I think there is a lot of research there,” she said.

In the early and mid-90s, Bend city developers scrutinized the area, but came up with few concrete ideas, Gyorgyfalvy said. ”I think when the Bend Parkway came through, it meant changes that weren’t good for business.”

The development board, whose planning of the Minnesota Avenue streetscape project is winding down as construction begins, is now exploring ways to beautify Greenwood and make it more functional. ”A much bigger solution needs to pop up rather than just attaching more surface treatment and something that’s superficial and would really need to make Greenwood work,” Gyorgyfalvy said. The development board’s Greenwood Avenue subcommittee is meeting at the end of the month to discuss hiring a consultant for the project. Construction could begin as soon as late 2003, Gyorgyfalvy said.

Palamara’s project concludes in March, at which time she will make a presentation to the board. Following graduation, she will have an apprenticeship for several years, after which she will take the ”bar exam” of landscape architecture and become licensed. ”I’m really encouraged by the enthusiasm of the BDB and everybody who is helping me out with it,” she said. ”There is definitely a movement toward progress.”

Lisa Rosetta can be reached at lrosetta@bendbulletin.com.