Coquille Point Hearing

Coquille Point, with the Bandon Beach Motel site clearly visible, protruding into the wildlife refuge buffer zone.\Photo by Steve Buck.

At its Thursday, April 26 meeting, the Bandon Planning Commission will have one very big item on the agenda—a special interest proposal to change the city’s comprehensive plan for one lot, so as to benefit a single developer.  The meeting takes place at 7 p.m. in the council chambers at Bandon City Hall (555 Hwy 101).

The property owner is Mike Keizer, owner and developer of the Bandon Dunes golf course complex.  He has acquired the rather decrepit Bandon Beach Motel, which sits next to Coquille Point, which is otherwise occupied by a county park and the onshore portion of a federal wildlife refuge.  The motel was grandfathered in when the area was otherwise protected from development and purchased for the public interest.  Oregon Shores took a leading role in the battle to preserve Coquille Point in the late ‘80s and very early ‘90s.

Keizer wants to turn the two-story motel into a much larger, three-story hotel, complete with restaurant and bar.  The possibility of such a development raises many issues—disturbance of the adjacent wildlife refuge, bird collisions with its large swaths of glass, traffic and parking, and the highly visible intrusion into the experience of visiting the natural area.  But all this comes later, if a proposal for the hotel itself is submitted.

At this hearing, the issue is whether the city’s plan should be amended for this one lot, to allow for greater height and fewer setbacks than would be allowed in this zone.  Oregon Shores will be submitting comments which oppose on principle the altering of the adopted plan for such a narrow special interest.  Note that the deadline for comments that will be included in the planning commissioners' packet is April 18; send comments to planning@cityofbandon.org. Deadline for e-mailed comments to be considered is April 25 at 5 p.m.

Learn more about the planning commission and find a link to the agenda on the commission’s website.