At the ridgeline above the old Rogge Mill, this is the view future vacationers might see if a proposed RV park is approved for the site north of Bandon. The Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals, which last week remanded the issue to applicant Indian Point Inc. - World Photo by Stephanie Vallance

BANDON — The state is telling a developer to take a second look at a proposed 179-unit RV park at the old Rogge Mill site.

The Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals remanded a decision by the Coos County Board of Commissioners approving the project. Now the applicant, Indian Point Inc., must address issues the appellants felt were not adequately addressed.

In 2006, Indian Point got the county’s go-ahead to rezone a portion of the old Rogge Mill property located on the east side of U.S. Highway 101, at Bullards Bridge. That decision, changing the zoning from industrial to recreational, also was appealed to LUBA, but in that appeal, Indian Point prevailed.

In February 2007, Indian Point Inc., again went before the county Planning Commission, seeking approval of a 179-unit RV Park with semi-permanent park models, a convenience store, a caretaker’s residence, a recreation center and other accessory buildings, to be sited on 21 acres of the 42-acre parcel. The proposed development also includes, in phases, a boat launch, fishing piers, a floating dock and a tackle/rental shop.

In a separate application, Indian Point also applied to site an emergency access road to serve the development on an adjoining parcel, and proposed to irrigate that adjoining parcel with effluent from the RV Park’s on-site mechanical sewage treatment facility.

Neighbors argued the proposed development was too dense and urbanlike, that it would affect the viability of the adjacent Bandon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge and that the sewage treatment proposal wasn’t viable, the Planning Commission approved the application, with conditions.

The Friends of Bandon Marsh appealed the decision to the Coos County Board of Commissioners, which upheld the decision in May and then to LUBA in October.

Dawn Vonderlin, Larry Vonderlin, John Baxter and the Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition, were listed as appellants on the LUBA document.

LUBA agreed with the Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition that the proposed development was more urban than rural in nature and therefore requires an exception to Statewide Planning Goal No. 14.

Oregon Shores argued, and LUBA agreed, that the proposed project more closely resembles a high-density residential suburb or subdivision than an RV Park, making it an urban use of the land.

“Such a development is prohibited on that land without an exception to Goal 14,” the document states.

In addition, LUBA agreed with Oregon Shores that the proposed sewer system would not be allowed without an exception to Statewide Planning Goal No. 11. LUBA also agreed that the county did not provide evidence that the proposed development would not interfere with permitted uses on nearby parcels in terms of wastewater effluent and groundwater usage.

But LUBA did not agree on two points Oregon Shores presented, including its claim that the proposed project would harm the nearby estuary’s water quality and quantity and negatively impact the Bandon Marsh. LUBA also disagreed with Oregon Shores that the proposed development should not be defined as an RV Park because the sites will not be available to rent by the general public.

“I’m extremely pleased with the LUBA decision and perhaps folks who thought that Friends of Bandon Marsh was just another whacko environmentalist group will realize that we had very legitimate concerns,” said Dawn Vonderlin on Tuesday.  

Despite the LUBA remand, according to Indian Point Project Manager Jan Sirchuck, the company still is  committed to siting an RV Park on the parcel.

“We’re obviously disappointed that it went the way it did,” Sirchuck said Tuesday. “But we’re not going to abandon the project. We have six or seven years invested. We’re just re-evaluating what this means and how to approach the remand and we’re going to address the issues that LUBA brought up.”

Undaunted, Sirchuck said he encounters “Citizens Against Virtually Everything” regularly in his work, but feels the project will be a highly attractive boon to Bandon’s economy.

“We think it’s a good project all around,” Sirchuck added. “I think the majority of people want to see growth in Bandon and that’s coming in the form of tourism — and this is an opportunity to do that in a positive way. To turn this away is counterproductive.”