Coos County’s commissioners will have another chance to vote on one aspect of the local liquefied natural gas project.

The Oregon International Port of Coos Bay has filed an application with Coos County to change the zoning of the Kentuck Golf Course to exclusive farm use. The change would allow the port to flood the property to offset damage caused by construction of a slip the port is building in connection with Jordan Cove Energy Project’s LNG terminal on the North Spit.

The county Planning Commission OK’d the plan, with some conditions requested by golf course neighbors, earlier this month. Commissioners are slated to consider it at 1:30 p.m. Sept. 22.

Jordan Cove is paying for the land use application process, as well as the land if it comes to it. The Culp family, which owns the course, has signed an option with Jordan Cove to sell either half or the entire 137-acre property.

The LNG developer only needs 36 acres of wetland, while the entire property could produce about 100, said Bob Braddock, Jordan Cove’s project manager. The port will have the option to buy unused mitigation land through its agreement with Jordan Cove.

“We know that what is driving this is us at this time. If the property is purchased, we are going to pay for the property,” Braddock said.

Braddock said it’s a bit of a gamble for Jordan Cove to purchase the land. But he noted that the port is looking at future developments that would need wetland mitigation.

“If they get a container terminal, they will need every bit of it,” he said.

The land was identified by the National Marine Fisheries Service as the best mitigation site for projects impacting the lower Coos Bay estuary, Braddock said.

But there were others who initially didn’t like the idea. The Kentuck Inlet Water Control District was concerned the project would require tearing out the expensive Kentuck tidegate constructed a couple years ago. Lone Rock Timberland Co. also worried encroaching salt water might damage its nearby timber. The Coos County Road Department weighed in as well, saying it would not favor putting a culvert under East Bay Road to flood the golf course.

The developer worked with these groups to reach a compromise. Rather than knock down the dike bordering the Kentuck Slough, which state and federal officials initially proposed, developers would remove part of the dike west of the course. Before doing so, it would build a bridge for East Bay Road. Jordan Cove also will build a berm around Lone Rock’s trees, Braddock said.

Donna Gould, a board member of the water district, said the new plan was acceptable to her group, which submitted a letter to the county in support of the project.

“The tidegate was the main thing,” she said.

Jordan Cove still has other organizations to appease, including the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and NMFS. Braddock said he would meet with those groups later this month.