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OSU campus idea draws opposition

The Columbian
Published: March 22, 2014, 5:00pm

BEND, Ore. (AP) — A new group is organizing opposition to locating a four-year campus for Oregon State University Cascades on Bend’s west side.

Truth In Site, formally organized a few weeks ago, has raised concerns about traffic, parking and the availability of affordable student housing at the site chosen for the new campus.

The branch school has grown rapidly and has approval to become a four-year school by 2015. It plans to locate the new campus on 56 acres on Bend’s west side.

The university envisions three buildings open by fall 2015, with student residences, classrooms, offices and retail space.

The opposition group’s spokesman, Scott Morgan, said the group supports bringing a four-year OSU-Cascades campus to Bend, but it believes the process of selecting a site was rushed by the university.

“Your grandkids are going to be living with this decision,” said Morgan, a retired CEO from the health-care industry who lives on Bend’s west side.

Morgan said his group hopes to raise enough money to hire a land-use attorney to oppose the siting and to study the traffic and environmental effects of a campus at the location.

The group’s members were also concerned the 56-acre location on Bend’s side would limit the future growth of the new campus.

But university officials at the meeting said the site was just the right size for the new campus and the number of projected students.

Becky Johnson, an OSU vice president and the highest-ranking administrator in Bend, said the new university campus would not rise above 5,000 students.

Johnson also said that more time would not have led to a different site selection. “Absolutely no time element rushed us to that site, and we looked everywhere.”

Officials also told the opposition group that they had invited feedback at numerous meetings and through a campus committee.

The university expects $24 million in bond proceeds and donations to pay for the new campus.

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