Planning To Spend Ten's of Millions at JR

The Juniper Ridge Management Board is hard at work planning the infrastructure required to build out the first 100 acres as quickly as ODOT will allow. The main needs are:

1) Power--Pacific Corp was sold a piece of land by the railroad along the western edge of JR for $1/sq. ft. This will be the future site of a new substation that will power JR and a lot of the rest of the northside. For the immediate future a temporary substation to power Suterra is being installed. This is going through the public process right now, although you may not be actually hearing about it.

2) Sewer, storm sewer and water under the roads. This also ties into power because the same ditch will likely be made wide enough to hold an underground power cable as well. This also brings into the issue the related question:

3) Exact grade and alignment of the arterial roads. The big ones that tie into that big double roundabout in front of Les Schwab, namely the 18th Street extension. Also the roads around Suterra will need to be precisely planned, as well as the second outlet which will probably tie into Hunter Lane, along the second parcel purchased by Pacificorp for a new service.

These details will all be incorporated into a Special Planned Area for presentation and public process in order to zone them such that Suterra and other companies can move in. CC&R's will be part of this planning as well.

ODOT wants a viable financial plan, which the City is planning to present at a OTC meeting in March. ODOT's Mark Devoney suggested that for the foreseeable future the City should plan on approaching ODOT about more traffic piecmeal, as the companies that want to move in sign up. That will make it easier for ODOT to approve an increase in traffic. Mark suggested that a company should be limited to a maximum of 50 PM trips during peak drive time, and that mitigation measures like shuttles, off-peak shift turnovers, etc. would really help ODOT in making a positive decision.

Suterra construction is moving along at a fast pace. They want to move in by June 30th, but July 31st is more realistic. Some pics I took recently of the construction site, looking from northeast through east to southeast:









The Purchase and Sale Agreements with Suterra and Pacificorp have been signed and executed. the JRMB is working as fast as possible to be able to start selling more land this fall, after the Special Planned Area is officially zoned. This area will place certain types of companies in different places, such as high end office and R&D on the south end, warehousing along the west side by the railroad tracks, etc. Ray and Jeff will be involved in selling the first 50 acres when it is ready.

The Les Schwab Headquarters is in place and functioning:



Up to this point all sales have been "net negative", as Jerry Mitchell put it, meaning it has cost more to build the infrastructure than the sale price. Bend taxpayers have been covering the extra cost, and will well into the future with the bonding necessary to build out the infrastructure.

The approved UGB includes land for a future university at Juniper Ridge. There seems to be a conflict of interest concerning this with the newest member of the City Council, Oran Teater, who currently sits on the Juniper Ridge Management Board. Mr. Teater also sits on the OSU-Cascades Campus Board of Advisors, which would seem to place him in a position directly competing for funds with any future JR University. I will try to interview Mr. Teater and determine where he stands on this issue.