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OSU Cascades Plans to Buy 46-Acre Pumice Mine

BEND, OR --   After two years of studying the old pumice mine on southwest Chandler Avenue, OSU-Cascades has reached an agreement to purchase the 46-acre property, adjacent to the 10-acre campus currently under construction.

 

The announcement came at yesterday’s meeting of the college board of advisors. Following due diligence, which included title, environmental, geotechnical and engineering reviews, the deal will close this Friday. OSU-Cascades Vice President Becky Johnson tells KBND News, “A lot of work with firms, geotechnical and environmental and architectural forms. We want to make sure the site will work. And so they’ve been looking at the walls there, and how do you need to reinforce those. How m much will you have to bring in to make it useable. Are we sure there’s no contamination from the landfill? There’s not. All those things have to be checked off.”
 
She adds, “I think the biggest significance is that it gives us more space to think about our campus expansion. Obviously we’ve been talking abut this 46 acres for a long time and closing on that and making it certain we now know that there will be enough room to expand out university to 3,000 to 5,000 students.”
 
Read reaction from the opposition group Truth in Site, HERE.
 
The 46-acre pumice mine will be purchased for $7,963,000. The college expects it will cost another $7- to $8-million for remediation. The university will consider the option to purchase the adjoining 76-acre Deschutes County demolition landfill. The due diligence for that property is under way.

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