A county decision to allow chromite mining has been affirmed by a state land-use panel.

The Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals late Thursday afternoon denied three assignments of error cited in an appeal by Bandon residents David and Sharon Comden.

In November, the Comdens filed the appeal of the Coos County Board of Commissioners’ decision in an attempt to thwart Oregon Resource Corp.’s mineral sands operation, with the mining to take place on more than 1,800 acres of land leased from the Weyerhaeuser Co. between Charleston and Bandon. The land is zoned for forest and mixed use.

“We are pleased with the board’s affirmation of the commissioners’ decision and we look forward to moving to the next stage of development,” Oregon Resources President Cheryl Wilson said in a press release, adding site preparations are under way to allow for construction of the processing plant facilities located in the Bunker Hill area.

“In mid-2008, we plan to commence the hiring and training for 70 positions from the local area,” she said.

Board of Commissioners Chairman John Griffith said he also is pleased with the decision.

“It’s happened before,” he said, “but you just never know what LUBA’s going to do. It shows that even LUBA can sometimes get it right.”

Eugene attorney Michael Reeder of the firm of Arnold Gallagher Saydack Percell Roberts & Potter, presented oral arguments on behalf of the Comdens during the hearing. Steven Abel, of Stoel Rives in Portland, represented Oregon Resources in a response brief.

In the appeal, the Comdens said the county failed to distinguish what an “accepted farming practice” is. Only farms that are intended to make a profit were included, they said, as opposed to hobby farms.

While LUBA agreed that the county made no attempt to identify what an accepted farming practice is,  “the question is whether that flaw requires remand, or whether it is, as (Oregon Resources) argues, harmless error given the county’s other findings.”

LUBA found impacts relating to noise, dust and traffic control to be insignificant.

About a second charge in the appeal, LUBA ruled, “(The Comdens) fault the county for rejecting their argument that (Oregon Resources) failed to identify other forest operations on lands not owned by Weyerhaeuser,” the final order said, “... we see no error in describing only those practices that affected landowners identify.”

LUBA also concluded that the cumulative effects of noise, dust and traffic, and impacts to groundwater did not call for a reversal or remand.

The Comdens said that the county failed to address their arguments that the mining operation would increase fire hazards, but LUBA found the proposed measures sufficient.

The Comdens were unavailable for comment.

The Weyerhaeuser site is located approximately 15 to 20 miles south of Coos Bay. Oregon Resources plans to remove about 600,000 to 700,000 tones of mineral sands per year for 20 years, resulting in approximately 67,000 truck trips per year to the off-site processing plant in Bunker Hill, approximately 19 miles away. The operation is proposed to run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 340 days a year.

Approximately 50 neighbors of the mining sites attended a planning commission meeting in June 2007, saying the operation would negatively affect their lives. In late July, Oregon Resources dropped the Shepherd site, which was closest to Bandon Dunes Golf Resort.

Almost all of the world’s chromite currently comes from South Africa. Chromite is used in the foundry industry. Other minerals to be extracted by Oregon Resources will be garnet and zircon. Developers say the South Coast economy could be boosted with  new jobs.

LUBA’s final decision can be appealed to the Court of Appeals. There is no word yet from the Comdens if they will do so.