By Patrick Cliff - The Bulletin

The metropolitan area — which is all of Deschutes County — grew 33.5 percent from 2000 to 2007. The current population is 154,028, according to the latest numbers.

Bend’s spurt has slowed, but it still places in the top 20 for growth between July 1, 2006, and July 1, 2007. The area’s 3.3 percent growth ranked 17th in the country.

The Census Bureau considers metropolitan areas those with more than 50,000 residents.

When told where the Bend area ranked, Bend Mayor Bruce Abernethy was surprised.

“We’re still at 17th? Wow,” he said. “I assumed we would’ve dropped further because of tailing off in new housing permits.”

The growth rate measures a city’s percentage growth.

So a city could add more people than Bend, but do it at a slower rate. The Dallas-Fort Worth area, for example, added about 162,000 last year but grew at a 2.2 percent rate, slower than Bend.

Revenues from building permits in Bend, for example, were about half of city officials’ projections for the last fiscal year.

Businesses in Redmond are preparing for a slowdown in growth, said Eric Sande, the director of the Redmond Chamber of Commerce.

But, he said, a little less growth might allow the region to catch up.

“We’ll still have growth, but not at skyrocketing numbers,” Sande said. “I think it’s just a good chance to catch our breath and make sure all the infrastructure is caught up and in place.”

Other areas in the county are also showing signs of slowed growth. The Sisters School District, for example, expects enrollment to drop by about 70 students over the current and next school years.

At the same time, the Redmond School District recently announced a $110 million bond effort to build more schools. District leadership has asked for more schools to handle the city’s recent and future growth.

Despite the relative slowdown, Bend-area leaders expressed optimism.

“We all know housing has slowed down, but I’m not surprised (population growth) has slowed down a little,” said John Russell, Bend’s director of economic development. “We all know painfully well we’re experiencing a downturn, but (Bend) has all the same basic features that caused the growth.”

Prineville, which the Census Bureau cuts out as a separate area, grew 19.4 percent since 2000. The latest population is 22,906. The area ranks 71st in the country among “micropolitans” — communities with more than 10,000 residents but fewer than 50,000 — during the past year, with 1.7 percent population growth.

Prineville’s development slowed during the past few years, said Scott Edelman, the senior planner for the city. Planners there used to see about 30 single-family home building permits each month, but now see between two and six each month.

“I know it seems tough to say, but sometimes slowing down the rapid rate of growth is a benefit to the community,” said Prineville Mayor Mike Wendel.

“It hurts some of the developers, I understand that. But the positive part is for the local government to sit back, pause and make sure we’re heading in the direction the community wants to grow.”