Picture a homeowner a few blocks off SE Sherman Road in Redmond, ready to add a primary suite before a parent moves in. The contractor pulls plans, submits for a permit, and the county comes back with a question nobody asked two years ago: where's your acoustical engineer's letter? The homeowner bought the house in 2021. Nothing about the property changed. The map around it did.
That's the quiet mechanic behind Redmond real estate right now, and it's one most sellers, and more than a few agents, don't think to check until a permit application or a title search forces the issue.
The Notice Nobody Reads Twice
In 2023, Redmond Municipal Airport, known locally as Roberts Field, filed an application with Deschutes County to update the Redmond Airport Master Plan, which hadn't been revised since 2018. The plan accounts for changes to the length of the primary runway and a future parallel runway, and those changes shift where the airport's protected airspace and noise boundaries actually fall on the ground.
The county's Planning Division mailed notice to affected property owners in September 2023. A Hearings Officer held a public hearing that November and issued a recommendation in December. The Board of County Commissioners then held its own hearings in January and February of 2024, deliberated, and approved the amendment. Because nobody appealed, it became effective on September 24, 2024, ninety days after adoption.
The practical result: roughly 125 properties that were previously outside the airport's Airport Safety Combining Zone and its 55 DNL noise contour are now inside one or both. If you owned your home before that mailing went out and you're still there, you might remember a county notice you didn't fully understand at the time. If you bought after 2024, you likely never saw it at all. Either way, the boundary is what governs your parcel today, not what governed it when you closed.
What the Boundary Actually Restricts
These aren't symbolic lines. Deschutes County's Airport Safety Combining Zone exists to keep incompatible heights and land uses out of the airport's approach and conical surfaces, the imaginary airspace cones that protect flight paths. The 55 DNL noise contour is a separate but overlapping boundary tied to average daily noise exposure, and it triggers its own requirement.
| Zone | What it governs | What it requires |
|---|---|---|
| Airport Safety Combining Zone | Structure height near runway approach and conical surfaces | Height limits that scale with distance from the runway |
| 55 DNL Noise Contour | Noise-sensitive new construction or additions | A letter from an acoustical engineer verifying interior sound levels meet required decibel limits |
Neither zone stops you from building. Both add a step, a cost, and time you didn't budget for if you find out mid-project instead of before you draw plans.
Why the Airport Keeps Redrawing Its Own Map
This isn't a one-time correction. Roberts Field is in the middle of a $180 million terminal expansion, with construction underway since June 2025 and a targeted opening in late 2027 or early 2028. Skanska is the general contractor. The project adds jet bridges, a second-floor concourse, and more than 6,000 square feet of new concessions, with named tenants including Bend Brewing Company, Sisters Coffee, Sparrow Bakery, and Peet's Coffee & Tea. The airport has also added routes, with Breeze Airways starting Las Vegas service in March 2026 and Alaska Airlines adding a Burbank flight.
None of this is funded by local property taxes. The financing runs through airport revenue, bonds, and federal grants, which means there's no local budget fight to slow it down. The city has moved on parallel infrastructure too. The Eastside Arterial project, built around Airport Way, opened a new roundabout at Veterans Way and Airport Way in June 2026, part of a four-phase build meant to unlock industrial and commercial growth near the airport corridor.
An airport that's actively growing its runway capacity and its passenger base is an airport whose Airport Master Plan will keep getting revisited. The 2024 boundary shift came out of planned runway changes that are part of that same master plan. Nothing suggests the next master plan update, whenever it comes, would leave the current lines untouched.
Checking Before You List, Permit, or Write an Offer
For anyone with property near Roberts Field, in the flight path corridor along Sherman Road, near Airport Way, or in the newer neighborhoods pushing east toward the airport boundary, the boundary is worth confirming rather than assuming.
- Look up your tax lot on Deschutes County's Zoning: Airport Safety GIS layer, available through the county's public data portal. It shows the current AS Combining Zone boundary directly against your parcel.
- Check the recorded noise disclosure and contour map for Redmond Municipal Airport, filed with the County Recorder's Office and linked from the airport's own noise abatement page. This is the document that defines the 55 DNL contour.
- If your parcel falls inside the contour and you're planning an addition, ADU, or any noise-sensitive new construction, get the acoustical engineer's letter lined up before you submit for a permit, not after a plan reviewer sends it back.
- If you're selling, get zoning verification in writing before you price the listing. A buyer's contractor or lender finding this during due diligence, after you're already under contract, is a worse conversation than having the answer ready on day one.
None of this replaces a title company's own zoning research or a licensed acoustical engineer's assessment. It just means you're not finding out for the first time when a permit gets kicked back.
A Few Questions We Hear
Does this affect the whole city of Redmond? No. The AS Combining Zone and the 55 DNL contour only touch parcels near the airport's approach surfaces and flight paths. Most of Redmond sits well outside either boundary.
Is this the same as a flood zone or wildfire hazard disclosure? No. It's a separate county land use process tied specifically to airport safety and noise, unrelated to FEMA flood mapping or wildfire hazard designations.
If my property wasn't in the zone before 2024, could it move again? Possibly. The boundary is tied to the Redmond Airport Master Plan, which is now being actively revisited after sitting untouched since 2018. Given the terminal expansion and route growth underway right now, treating a past zoning check as permanent isn't a safe assumption. Rechecking at each transaction, rather than relying on what you or a prior owner confirmed years ago, is the more reliable approach.
Property near a growing airport comes with real advantages, easy flights in and out of Central Oregon, proximity to Redmond's employment base, and often a lower price point than comparable homes closer to downtown Bend. It also comes with a boundary line that isn't fixed. If you're weighing a sale, a permit, or a purchase near Roberts Field and want a second set of eyes on what your specific parcel is actually zoned for, Janet Davey can help you sort out what's on the map before it becomes a surprise in escrow. Let's Connect.
