Oregon lawmakers have signed off on more than $42 million in bonds this week to help Oregon State University‑Cascades push ahead with its Bend campus expansion, turning a former landfill and pumice mine into space for a new student health and recreation center and future housing and academic buildings. The vote advances a long‑running campus plan, but the bill still needs the governor’s signature and on‑the‑ground work is not expected for several years.
Senate Bill 5701, the short‑session bond package that includes the OSU‑Cascades funding, is enrolled and sitting on the governor’s desk, according to the Oregon Legislative Information System. The bill authorizes general obligation bonds for projects around the state and ties the Cascades work to apprenticeship, outreach and benefits requirements.
What The Bonds Will Pay For
OSU‑Cascades Chancellor Sherm Bloomer called the move “transformational,” saying the money will let the university continue remediation of roughly 24 acres of landfill and pumice mine and reshape the west side of campus to free up as much as 90 acres for future development and room for an anticipated 4,000 to 5,000 students several years from now, as reported by OPB.
OSU planning documents show the Student Health and Recreation Center as part of a broader roughly $84 million campus buildout, with the university covering about half of that total, roughly $42 million, including $20 million already committed through a student‑approved fee. The board materials describe a phased remediation strategy that creates buildable land for the center first, then for future housing and academic space, according to OSU Board of Trustees materials.
Timeline And Next Steps
University leaders say the cleanup and grading will be a slow burn, with the next major remediation work not expected to start until 2028 and construction of the new building coming after that. Students and local lawmakers told reporters the planned 40,000‑square‑foot facility and reclaimed land should fill a long‑standing gap in student life and help keep more graduates in the local workforce, according to KTVZ. In other words, no one is lacing up for a pickup game on the old dump site anytime soon.
Why Bend Is Watching
Backers say the project will deliver more than just treadmills and exam rooms. Plans call for on‑campus recreation and clinical services, surfaced playing fields, solar arrays and parcels for academic buildings that could anchor an Innovation District. OSU‑Cascades materials point to the campus’ growing economic footprint and stress sustainable construction practices and community engagement as the expansion unfolds; see the university overview at OSU‑Cascades.
With the Legislature’s approval secured, campus planners can move ahead on design work and permitting, although the project still depends on final executive sign‑off and the slow, methodical work of land reclamation. Officials say the next big milestones are the governor’s signature and the start of major remediation in 2028.
