County considers housing plan near Shevlin Park

Project would add 50 homes on Miller tree farm

By Tyler Leeds / The Bulletin

Published Aug 15, 2014 at 12:01AM

A project that would add 50 homes west of Bend complete with a public trail system connected to Shevlin Park is under consideration by Deschutes County, which received conditional use permit applications from the developer this month.

The project, named The Tree Farm, would keep more than 400 acres of its 533-acre footprint as permanent open space. The company behind the project, The Tree Farm LLC, is owned by the Miller family, of Miller Lumber, and West Bend Property Company, which is owned by Brooks Resources and Tennant Developments. Brooks Resources and Tennant Developments developed NorthWest Crossing, which is just to the east of this proposed development.

Despite the affiliation with and proximity to NorthWest Crossing, Romy Mortensen, project manager of The Tree Farm and a vice president of Brooks Resources, envisions this new development as a counterpoint to NorthWest Crossing.

“Because of the potential growth that could take place on the west side of Bend, we think that it’s smart to have development denser in town, as in NorthWest Crossing, and to have a less dense area, like we are planning, when you move into more rural lands,” she said.

Drawing on a principle promoted by the Congress for the New Urbanism, Mortensen said The Tree Farm is based upon the idea of a “transect,” which Mortensen said calls for “a logical transition from urban to rural in a location where any future urbanization onto parks and other public lands seems highly unlikely.”

Under this principle, density should diminish toward what Mortensen called “a soft edge,” which The Tree Farm is intended to provide.

Charley Miller, president of Miller Lumber, described The Tree Farm as a “legacy project” for his family.

“Much of this land will be left open for the public to enjoy in perpetuity,” Miller said. “We’re essentially extending public lands (from Shevlin Park) out to the east.”

The development, which would not be gated, is notable for its intention to cluster the placement of homes on 2-acre plots. Most of the land falls into the county’s urban area reserve zone, which allows for homes to be set on 10-acre plots. This clustered approach, which has conditional approval under county code, will allow more land to be kept open, Miller said.

The placement just outside of Bend’s urban growth boundary is also “taking almost 150 acres out of consideration” from any future expansion of the city, Miller noted. Without this development, the land could potentially be developed in the same dense manner as NorthWest Crossing, were a UGB expansion to bring it into the city.

Most of the homes would be placed on the northern edge of the property’s line, away from Skyliners Road to the south and Shevlin Park to the west.

Miller said he hopes to have approval from the county by the end of the year and to begin work on the Tree Farm in 2015.

— Reporter: 541-633-2160, tleeds@bendbulletin.com