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November 17, 1999
Tribe ponders big project near Coos Bay
COOS BAY, Ore. (AP) -- The Coquille Indian Tribe is considering building an 18-hole golf course, a recreational vehicle park, a housing area and a business park on a 281-acre tract south of Coos Bay's Empire District.
Tribal leaders said they have not made a decision to go forward with the project, but they have met with the Coos Bay city officials to brief them on the proposed development.
Don Ivy, the tribe's cultural resources program coordinator, said the tribe wants to keep the community informed about tribal activities.
Any decisions about the project will come after a feasibility study wraps up at the end of the year, he said.
"Then the tribal council will deliberate and provide instruction," Ivy said.
The tract is part of about 1,000 aces of tribal trust land in an unincorporated area at the edge of Coos Bay. Part of the land is developed as a tribal housing project and other facilities serving tribal members, as well as organic cranberry bogs.
The northern parcel, proposed for the new development, is largely a clear-cut area planted with young trees. The study will determine if it's in the tribe's best interests to develop the land or continue to use it as a tree farm, Ivy said.
"The ideas look good. They look feasible for this market and this local economy," he said.
But the tribe still lacks the detailed information to determine if the projects would provide an economic return needed to justify the investment, said Brady Scott, president of the Coquille Economic Development Corp., the tribe's development arm.
If the tribal council decides to pursue the development, Scott's organization will take the lead.
No cost estimates have been discussed, although Scott said the golf course would probably cost between $3 million and $8 million.
Nor have any decisions been reached about the scope of the other developments, Ivy said.
But the tribe's master development plan proposes a 133-acre 18-hole golf course, clubhouse and driving range; an 11-acre RV park; two residential areas -- a 38-acre neighborhood of about 300 manufactured homes and a 19-acre area of residential lots sized from a quarter-acre to one acre, and a nine-acre business park offering up to 200,000 square feet of commercial buildings for light manufacturing and other uses.
The trust land is considered "sovereign" land not subject to local and state development regulations, but Coos Bay City Manager Bill Grile said the tribal project would probably require the cooperation of the city of Coos Bay and perhaps the Charleston Sanitary District, which would provide sewer and other utility services.
Improvements would probably also be necessary to the road which would provide access to the development from the Cape Arago Highway, Grile said.
Three golf courses already operate in the Coos Bay area, but an additional one so close to the city might be popular with golfers, Grile said.
He said the project might also provide additional needed housing.
The fact that the land is not taxable might help the tribe find development partners, he said.
Scott said development of the land is being considered as another step to vary the tribe's economic base and help it gain self-sufficiency.
The tribe already operates the Mill Casino, an assisted-living center in Bandon and the organic cranberry business.
An $8.5 million hotel adjacent to the casino is now under construction and is due to open in the spring.
The tribe also manages 5,400 acres of former Bureau of Land Management timberlands transferred to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the benefit of the tribe in 1998.