Opponents have taken the first step to appeal the land use application for a liquefied natural gas terminal on Coos Bay’s North Spit.

David Lohman, a lawyer based in Medford, mailed a notice of intent to appeal to the Land Use Board of Appeals in Salem on Dec. 26. It was delivered exactly three weeks after the Coos Bay Board of Commissioners approved the application submitted by Jordan Cove Energy Project.

Although it arrived on the final day of the appeal period, the notice was anticipated by many people involved in the process.

Jordan Cove Project Manager Bob Braddock said his company timed its application filing to allow for a several-month appeal process.

“If you look at the history in Oregon, projects that are much smaller than ours get appealed all the time,” he said Monday. “It’s part of the natural process of going through a land use application.”

Next, Coos County must supply LUBA with its record of the land use decision by Jan. 16. Unless the record is contested, Lohman, who represents Southern Oregon Pipeline Information Project, Inc., will then have 21 days to brief arguments against the application. The respondent then is allowed time to prepare a response brief. Although the county is technically the respondent, Board Chairman John Griffith said it will be Jordan Cove that takes up defense of the application.

“It’s been the practice of the county since I’ve been here to allow the prevailing party to serve as an intervener,” he explained.

Like Braddock, Griffith was not surprised that an appeal was filed.

“That’s just the way it’s been done for years,” he said. “The only time there isn’t (an appeal) is when the only one who shows up for the hearings is the applicant.”

Griffith added that the more significant decision will be made when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission weighs in on Jordan Cove’s application. That ruling is expected to come out near the end of this year.

Even with a log-jammed LUBA docket, Braddock said, he expects to make it through the appeal process before FERC hands down its decision.

“We think we have an extremely strong findings and the evidence prepared by the county should more than suffice,” he said.

Griffith was less sure.

“You never know what they’ll do up there (in Salem),” he said.