Several downtown Coos Bay landowners have been surprised to learn the state held claims to property they’ve owned for decades. But the state has known about the clouded titles for more than 35 years.

The titles were cleared in July, when the city of Coos Bay bought out the state’s claims on landowners’ behalf. But some landowners remain dubious that the state ever had valid clams.

The history of the issue goes back to the early 1970s, when the Legislature authorized the Division of State Lands to conduct an inventory of filled lands. Researchers pored over U.S. Army Corps of Engineers fill permits;  reviewed historical photographs and U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey charts; visited fill sites and the county courthouse; and prepared a report.

The earliest fills went in near Eastside in the late 1800s, with later projects creating much of downtown Coos Bay. The 1973 report noted that coal barges once anchored where today Fourth Street intersects Anderson Avenue.

The state determined 1,260 acres of submerged and submersible lands had been filled with dredge spoils in the Coos Bay estuary.

As of 1973, the state claimed ownership of 155 acres. But the claims drew little attention until 2007. That’s when the city learned the state claimed land the city was intending to donate for the Coos Historical & Maritime Museum.

At that time, the state claimed about 15 acres within Coos Bay city limits. The last of those disputed titles were resolved in July, when the city agreed to pay $100,109 to clear state claims on five and a quarter acres of private land.

Solliday isn’t sure why some titles were clouded by state claims while neighboring properties remained clear. In some cases, filled-in land might have escaped the state’s notice.

The city has sought voluntary reimbursement from the affected landowners. Though officials say landowners have no obligation, some have expressed willingness to pay. But at least one is skeptical of the state’s claim.

Anna Marie Larson’s family owns property on South Broadway for which the state claimed partial ownership. Larson has produced a title insurance policy, which DSL Director Louise Solliday said shows no indication of state rights to the land. But that omission doesn’t disprove the state’s claim, Solliday said. The state obtained a chain of title, which tracks ownership of property all the way back to statehood.

“Generally title companies go back three owners,” she said. “They don’t get back to statehood.”

Larson is convinced the land has been hers all along, and the city didn’t need to pay to clear a state claim. She’s also frustrated the state never contacted her about the allegedly clouded title, and that no one has showed her evidence of state ownership.

Solliday said the reason Larson and other landowners never heard from DSL was a matter of funding. While the state Legislature called on the state agency to resolve questions about state ownership, it didn’t pay for notification.

The state didn’t know who had possession of all the land on which the state claimed title. State officials only determined that last year during negotiations with the city, Solliday said.

Property owners couldn’t have found out about the state’s claim unless they contacted the Department of State Lands.

“We didn’t force the issue,” Solliday said.