Troy Field in downtown Bend. The parking lot is on the right. (Ryan Brennecke/Bulletin file photo)

A Bend City Council vote that would have halted development of Troy Field was postponed at the last minute Wednesday night following an appeal from Bend-La Pine Schools, the property’s owner.

The council was set to hold a vote formally rejecting a request from the school district to change the general plan designation on the downtown field, but following an eleventh-hour email from the district the council agreed to postpone the vote.

The council had earlier voted to reject the general plan change, which if granted, would have cleared the way for the school district to sell the field to a developer, Portland-based Brownstone Development. The district intended to use the $1.9 million sale price to help finance the construction of new schools.

In the email, the district’s attorney said postponing the action may allow the district to avoid filing an appeal challenging the council’s ruling. City Attorney Mary Winters said the delay would allow staff from the two agencies to communicate about the issue.

The request was well-received by the council, which was happy for a way to possibly avoid litigation.

Councilor Victor Chudowsky noted more time may allow discussions to proceed on a long-standing but ill-defined plan to redevelop a section of downtown with a public plaza and possibly new city facilities. One iteration of the plan calls for Troy Field to become a parking garage.

Before the district entered into a deal with Brownstone Development, which is contingent on the plan designation changing, the city offered to buy Troy Field, first for $850,000 and then $1.1 million.

Because the vote was postponed to May 4, the deal between the city and the developer hasn’t technically fallen apart yet.

The prospect of Troy Field being developed elicited a groundswell of community opposition, with residents citing the importance of the open space to the city’s civic life.

— Tyler Leeds