Summary of March 5 board of directors meeting
March 6, 2024
At the March 5 BPRD board of directors meeting, the members of the elected board approved a resolution and approved a system development charges waiver for veteran’s housing. A video recording of the meeting is available.
Additionally, it was announced at Zavier Borja will resign from the board, effective March 19, 2024. More information and details about a board appointment process are available.
Resolution related to tax exemptions and waiver requests
Over the years, the district has been approached with various requests to support community initiatives through direct financial contributions to projects or causes, fee waivers for services or system development charges (SDC), or by approving tax exemptions. While some of these requests directly align with the district’s mission, others address broader community initiatives that may not be as closely tied to the statutorily designated purpose of the district.
To assist with decision-making, the board of directors tasked staff with developing a policy to evaluate requests that serve a broader community initiative and tend to be more substantial in scale. The resolution is in the board agenda packet (beginning on page 59). The resolution was approved 4-0 (Director Borja absent).
Central Oregon Veterans Outreach tax exemption approved
Central Oregon Veteran and Community Outreach (COVO) applied for a non-profit tax exemption for its deed-restricted low-income rental housing units for veterans and their families. Seven of the eight lots support 18 individual housing units, and one vacant lot is reserved for future low-income housing.
The board approved the request and cited the application’s alignment with prior board actions to provide SDC waivers for deed restricted affordable housing and shelters ($3.8 M since July 2019), and to provide financial needs-based assistance (>$670,000 last year) to support lower income community members.
Work session: comprehensive plan and project list
The district recently completed its Community Needs Assessment survey, with the results presented to the board in early January. Subsequently, staff conducted an unmet needs analysis and compared the 2023 survey outcomes to those of 2017.
The 2023 Community Needs Survey highlighted a significant increase in demand for all park and recreation amenities, with not a single amenity showing a decrease in need. Daily and weekly visits to BPRD facilities also saw a notable increase compared to 2017.
As part of the mid-term comprehensive plan update, staff have updated the project list (pages 11-21), which included evaluating the remaining projects in the plan and adding new ones.
The next board meeting is March 19.