I support an Oregon State University student body on a workable Bend campus. What a great community we have to facilitate the college experience. One benefit of having an OSU campus is what economists call a positive externality. This means community members will receive a general benefit from having more well-educated citizens. My college days at the University of Iowa provided a great foundation for my future world of work as well as some of my fondest memories. Iowa City, home of the UI, greatly benefited from the presence of the university. There were teachers, such as Kurt Vonnegut, who had a positive impact on the culture of the community. A bartender at Joe’s bar in Iowa City who had a philosophy doctorate also comes to mind. Locals jokingly referred to Iowa City as the “Athens of Iowa.” I would vicariously enjoy the notion of an OSU Bend student body having that same experience.

I have watched the arguments for and against the site from the lofty position of a semi-retired expert on the costs of project development. My master’s degree in construction management from the engineering college at ASU led to work for construction and construction management firms and eventually to work for development/owner firms. My projects included an entire college campus, a national guard base, museums, medical facilities, libraries, sports arenas and many casino/hotel resorts around the country. The largest of which tipped the scale at $10 billion on a 110-acre site that included 18,000,000 feet of enclosed program space. My expertise focused on true total development costs and I was rarely proved incorrect. So it’s safe for you to assume that I not only love building but love getting it right. Here is my advice.

Get the open pit mine owner to give the site to OSU at no cost or at something around $30,000 per acre. Write it off. Get the school to name buildings after you. After all, who in the development world would pay around $300,000 per acre for a 46-acre parcel with an 80-foot-deep hole in the ground? Who else would be your buyer? Has anyone heard of developers lining up to get a shot at the open pit? Trying to build a campus in this “canyon” is a bad idea. The premium costs associated with wet and dry utilities alone will be exorbitant. Twenty-year maintenance on the pit development would be exorbitant. Can you imagine what the weather and light conditions would be at the bottom? The pit development problems are difficult for supporters of the current site to see as they appear to have their minds made up. Cognitive dissonance theory suggests that once you’ve made a decision, you tend to ignore the negatives and focus on the positives. There are many powerful decision makers in Salem who are still in pre-decision mode and it’s likely they will recognize the folly of “the canyon campus.” The pit does not work and the problem can’t be ignored.

If, however, the mine owner donates the site to OSU, then OSU should fill the mine with imported material. Soil import costs are driven mainly by trucking cycle costs. The cycle time includes truck loading, drive to dump point, dump load and drive back. I know of a really close source of fill that has 500,000 plus yards with a truck cycle of about six minutes. This source would love to get rid of the fill material. Mirror Pond. The Bend Park & Recreation District may even help share the cost. Perhaps half the haul costs could be paid by each party, saving both money. The sediment could be mixed with in situ materials plus a little added soil that would produce an engineered soil with a bearing capacity for the campus structures. This is a win for the pond advocates and produces a workable OSU site. Think about it.

— Mike Paulson lives in Bend.