A week after a Bandon couple filed paperwork to appeal a chromite mine in Coos County, the mining company, Oregon Resources Corp., also has filed a notice of intent to appeal a Coos County commissioners’ decision.

The notice was sent to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals by certified letter on Oct. 30.

In an Oct. 31 letter sent to County Counsel Jacqueline Haggerty, Oregon Resources’ attorney Steven Abel, of the Portland law firm, Stoel Rives, said that mining became no longer feasible after a condition forcing the company to provide road maintenance was added by commissioners.

“The conditions requiring road maintenance simply are uneconomic and too open-ended for ORC to accept,” the letter read. “Simply stated, in light of condition 13, the approval of the sites in reality is a nullity and ORC cannot continue to proceed.”

Cheryl Wilson, president of the Portland-based company, said Oregon Resources appealed the county’s approval because no actual cost was determined for road maintenance.

“We need to know what it’s going to cost,” Wilson said. “It needs to be a fair and certain amount.”

Wilson said by going through the appeal process, she hopes to come to some mutual agreement with the county.

“It’s unfortunate,” she said. “It just further delays the economic benefits for the county and our shareholders.”

On Oct. 4, commissioners approved an earlier Planning Commission decision to allow a conditional use permit for the operation to be conducted on forest and mixed use zones where five mining sites are located off West Beaver Hill Road between Charleston and Bandon. The approval also allowed a processing plant in Bunker Hill. Before giving the decision an OK, commissioners added a 13th condition, making the applicant responsible for, “the proportionate cost of maintenance, repair and upgrades of county roads on the designated transport route.”

The trucking route heads south on West Beaver Hill Road and north on U.S. Highway 101 to the plant — approximately 19 miles one way. The operation will require 86 round trips, 24 hours per day, seven days a week, for about 340 days each year. Oregon Resources also would be responsible for providing a traffic impact analysis and monthly truck “trip tickets” to the county roadmaster. The roadmaster would have the authority to determine compliance, and if necessary suspend or terminate county road use by the company.

Abel’s letter cited that a sixth mining site about a mile and a half from Bandon Dunes Golf Resort that Oregon Resources abandoned in July had already decreased the company’s available resources.

The letter asks if county commissioners would reconsider their addition of condition 13.

Wilson said Oregon Resources intends to proceed with business as much as possible during the appeal process, which could take months.

“We’re continuing working on the process plant site and getting that prepared,” Wilson said. “We have the permit on the process site, but much depends on the outcome of this permit and our discussions with the county.

“It’s difficult at this time to determine strategy,” she added. “We just need to understand what exactly we have to face with that condition.”

Oregon Resources’ notice of intent to appeal has been consolidated with an earlier appeal notice, according to Kelly Burgess, a paralegal with LUBA. The county must submit a local proceedings record within 21 days and petitioners will have 14 days to file an objection to the record or 21 days to file a brief. Next, commissioners have an additional 21 days to file a responding brief before a public hearing is held two to three weeks later. An average appeal process takes between four and six months, according to Burgess.

LUBA has three options: It can reverse, affirm or remand the commissioners’ decision for further proceedings. If the decision is affirmed, the county commissioners’ decision can still be appealed to the Court of Appeals. The first notice of intent to appeal was filed on Oct. 26 by Bandon couple David and Sharon Comden, with support from other property owners and Bandon Woodlands Community Association members.

In the earlier appeal, petitioners noted that Oregon Resources “did not adequately address the approval criteria of the Coos County Zoning and Land Development Ordinance.

“Homeowners are concerned about increased fire danger, that ground and surface water supplies will be contaminated and/or depleted, that noise will never stop and that the constant traffic will damage roads and increase the number of accidents on the narrow, winding county roads,” petitioners said.

In regards to Oregon Resources’ appeal notice, Sharon Comden said, “In many of our minds, the commissioners bent over backwards to be fair and reasonable with ORC.”