NORTH BEND — Standing in front of the old Bangor School, only 60 feet from his front door, Michael Dean said he had concerns when the defunct elementary finally sold.

“It was all a question of what are they going to propose to do with it,” Dean said.

His fears were finally realized this month. The city notified him that the property’s owner — Bangor LLC in Bend — wants to change the zoning from residential to general commercial to allow for a retail/office development. The 5.8-acre property is bordered by Broadway and Madrona streets.

“It doesn’t make sense for our neighborhood to have a commercial development invade a well-established neighborhood,” Dean said. “You can imagine the noise, the traffic.”

Dean is one of 32 residents who got the letters.

North Bend Community Development Director David Voss said general commercial allows for business and professional offices, retail sales, service or repair and places for public and private assembly or amusement, such as a tavern, bar, bowling alley or movie theater. Other North Bend properties zoned general commercial include the Pony Village Mall, Public Square and Rite Aid.

Voss plans to counsel the North Bend Planning Commission to recommend the change on July 20 and pass it on to the city council for final approval. He reasoned that the city is running out of vacant properties for development and the school site, which is zoned for single-family homes, isn’t a good place for that because of its proximity to Broadway.

“All the rest of Broadway is commercial or designated commercial,” Voss said. “I think it makes sense to change it.”

Scot E. Burgess, a Bend-based orthodontist and a partner in Bangor LLC, said he plans to develop the site into a retail and office space, with the front, facing Broadway, featuring retail and the back including a mixture of office and retail. Plans include three buildings and closing down the school’s sports field. Construction wouldn’t begin until businesses have agreed to move there.

“I don’t think the size is big enough for a big box store,” he said.

Dean worries that could be Bangor’s intention.

“It’s my strong preference not to live across the street from the butt side of a Bi-Mart,” Dean said.

The property couldn’t support anything the size of a Wal-Mart, Voss clarified, but something comparable to Bi-Mart is conceivable. Landscaping would be installed to help reduce noise and other issues for neighbors on Madrona.

“I think it will look better than what’s there at least,” Burgess contended. “I don’t think there will be a significant amount of noise, because it won’t be industrial.”

Voss said that if Bangor were to make the property mixed residential and commercial, those who live there would likely have no buffer to separate them from the business side of the site.

The zone change is only the first step in the development process. If approved, the company would need city OK for a site design.

“I think it does provide opportunity for new businesses coming in to provide new jobs to the area,” Burgess said.

Dean argued that there are plenty of vacant business spaces in strip malls, like the one near the McDonald’s restaurant on Broadway, so the area doesn’t need more retail units.

Voss said Bangor LLC ordered up a traffic impact study, but only for Broadway. It revealed that 2,390 daily trips would be expected on the thoroughfare, based on 31,350 square feet of retail, 14,000 square feet of specialty retail and 25,000 square feet of office space.  While the school operated, it generated 509 daily trips, but most of those came before and after school.

“It’s going to be all day long. It will be spread out,” Voss said.

Development also would impact the Newmark Avenue and Broadway intersection. Access points to the property would definitely include one in line with 11th Street — by city request — and potentially two on Madrona.

“The character of the street is residential. It’s not a high traffic thing,” Dean said. “It would essentially turn into a de facto arterial.”

Residents Caryle Justesen and Suzie Thompson don’t think a commercial development and the traffic it could bring would be good for their neighborhood, either.

“When it was a school, it was just so hectic around here. There was no parking,” Justesen said. “To go back to that busy hubbub with heavy traffic — we’re not too anxious to see that.”

Burgess said the traffic increase wouldn’t have the same impact as people dropping off and picking up students.

Thompson, who has children, a grandchild and a lot of cats, said more traffic on her street could be a hazard.

“I’ve worked retail for 30 years, so I know it’s always buzzing,” Thompson said. “If it’s going to be a business that has to have freight delivered to it, I’m not going to be happy about that.”

Dean said there are other residents on the street who don’t know about the issue, and he plans to summarize key points and pass the information among his neighbors.

“What I plan to do is simply let people know,” Dean said.