Perhaps I missed all of the coverage of the grand groundbreaking ceremony for the OSU-Cascades west-side campus a couple of weeks ago. I mean, this is arguably the most important development project in Central Oregon in the last decade and will most certainly have wide-ranging impacts for generations. There must have been dozens if not a hundred officials, business people, politicians and alumni present for such a momentous occasion. Ceremonial orange and black shovels and hard hats, right? Go Beavs!

Actually, the coverage consisted of seven sentences in The Bulletin on June 30 accompanied by a photo of dust-covered earth movers rumbling through the site. No ceremony, no fanfare; just a new chain link fence and heavy equipment. It appears to me that the wide support for placing the campus on this site simply does not exist.

Unfortunately, the slow-speed train wreck that is the Chandler Road campus has left the station. And watching this process has been nothing less than an exercise in extreme frustration. How does OSU-Cascades leadership explain their refusal to engage in the master-planning process (required for projects over 20 acres), knowing full well that their campus will ultimately cover at least three to four times the 10 acres now undergoing site preparation? The fact that they only control 10 acres and are therefore not required to master plan their “starter” campus is a convenient technicality. It flies in the face of logic and is a thumb in the eye to the sense of community support they should be trying to garner. That they are being disingenuous is the kindest description I can come up with. The master-planning process is on the books precisely for this type of project.

Those in charge of guiding the future of OSU-Cascades must and should be dreaming big. Way, way bigger than 10 acres. The Chandler Road site has room for a few classroom buildings, a library, administration building and a dorm. Where will the field house, athletic facilities and fields, basketball courts, rock gym, pool, maintenance facilities, laboratories, student life center, cafeterias and performing arts center all go? If we want a first-class university, these amenities will require dozens if not a hundred acres.

There are examples well-planned campus developments all over the country, but one need look no further than to the state universities developed by our neighbors to the north and east: Both WSU in Pullman and Idaho State in Pocatello started beyond the edge of town with ample acreage to grow. Both have had housing, restaurants, services and businesses grow up in around them and have become vibrant and successful anchors of the regional economy. Bend can do this and do it right.

Speaking of ample acreage to grow, is OSU-Cascades seriously considering expanding onto an eight-story hole on the ground (pumice mine) and then possibly into an old landfill? These properties have so many technical, geological, environmental, engineering and other red flags that it would be comical if it were not true that they were even under consideration, not to mention under contract for purchase — as is the case with the pumice mine. The $30,000 per month being spent to maintain the option to purchase the pumice mine could go a long way toward proper and unbiased due diligence of all potential sites.

More public input, transparency, and accountability are the only ways for OSU to ever begin to gain back any semblance of credibility. Presenting to the public an open and independent third-party evaluation of all of the potential sites is the first step. It’s almost too late to keep the legacy of this project from being the single worst development decision in Central Oregon history, but maybe not quite.

— Scott Letourneau lives in Bend.