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Published By Your City Hall |
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  Addressing housing and homelessness are among the City Council’s top goals. The homelessness crisis is not just a local issue, but statewide here in Oregon and across the western United States. According to a recent article in the Oregonian, Oregon’s recent growth in homelessness is among the largest in the nation. During a two-year span (2020 - 2022) the number of people experiencing homelessness grew nearly 23%. During the same period, Washington experienced a 10% jump and California a 6% increase. All of which is many times higher than the national average of less than 1% growth in individuals experiencing homelessness.
As to housing, according to a 2022 housing supply report from ECONorthwest, Oregon needs over 110,000 homes to meet current needs and an additional 550,000 to meet anticipated housing demands over the next twenty years.
At this week’s Council meeting, the City Council adopted strategies aimed at working to address homelessness and to increase housing development. As both issues are complex and volumes could be written on each topic, I thought I would devote this week’s article to the work being done to increase housing stock in the City and next week’s article to focus on the work being undertaken related to addressing homelessness and its impacts.
Oregon requires cities with populations greater than 10,000 to adopt Housing Production Strategies (HPS) to facilitate housing opportunities throughout Oregon for individuals and families of all incomes. A HPS considers data in a city’s Housing Needs Analysis (HNA). The Coos Bay 2020 HNA was adopted in September 2020.The HNA looked at market trends and forecasts in an effort to identify housing needs and to determine if the buildable land supply within the city limits is sufficient to accommodate a twenty-year need. Through the collective work of the Planning Commission and the City Council, several policy actions have been taken and/or explored in an effort to allow for increased housing development. Those actions include but are not limited to the following:
- Streamlining ADU/duplex regulations
- Innovative partnerships with private and nonprofit developers
- Engaged with Community Housing Action Team (CHAT) on housing trust fund
- Limits on short-term vacation rentals
- Authorization and standards for cottage clusters
- Allowance for Tri/Quad-plexes in single family zones
- Multi-unit residential development standards for citywide use
- Minimum density standards in all residential zones
- Reduction of minimum lot sizes
- Allowance of Single Room Occupancies
- Streamlined land use permit processing requirements
 Last year, the City embarked on creating a state required Housing Production Strategy (HPS). The HPS is intended to expand on prior housing studies completed for the City. After much work, and a number of public meetings by the Planning Commission and the Council, the Council adopted the 2023 Coos Bay Housing Production Strategy. The HPS identifies new strategies and timelines to facilitate housing along with how and why each strategy has been formulated. The identified strategies include:
- Develop / continue partnerships with nonprofits for housing development
- Encourage medium/high-density development in medium/high-density zones
- Provide pre-approved middle housing designs
- Develop criteria and process for identifying land to up-zone
- Ensure that the development code is clear and objective
- Develop criteria to allow single unit and duplexes on small commercial lots
- Amend minimum lot line and building setback requirements
- Consider property tax abatement incentives
Now with adopted strategies, the City staff, Planning Commission, and Council will roll up their sleeves to undertake the necessary work / process to implement the strategies.
-Joe Benetti, Mayor of Coos Bay
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 Notice is hereby given that the Coos Bay City Council will be accepting applications and letters of interest for consideration of appointment to fill an upcoming vacancy on the City Council. To qualify, applicants must be a registered voter and have resided within the Coos Bay City limits for at least one year. The letter of interest should include a summary of the work and community experience, education, and the reason(s) for the motivation to serve on City Council. An attached resume is acceptable.
Letters of interest and applications will be accepted in the City Manager’s Office until 5 p.m. on Thursday June 8, 2023. Applicants will be contacted to schedule an interview with the City Council. For more information, contact City Manager Rodger Craddock or Assistant City Manager Nichole Rutherford at 541-269-8912
Interviews will be held Tuesday, June 20, 2023, prior to the City Council meeting.
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At the April 18, 2023, Council meeting, Coos Bay City Council declared April 23-29, 2023, as Nation Library Week. National Library Week was first celebrated in 1958. It gives everyone the opportunity to acknowledge the critical role libraries play in the community. Libraries are welcoming places that bring the community together for entertainment, education, and connections. Today, libraries offer so much more than just books, including technology, support for job seekers, classes, and even a Library of Things. Visit Coos Bay Public Library to find out all the great things they have for the entire community.
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 On Monday April 17, Officer Wesley O’Connor began his new assignment as a Detective at the Coos Bay Police Department (CBPD). Detective O’Connor has worked for CPBD for nearly five years and has held several different positions and roles over that time, including Patrol Officer, Field Training Officer, Watch Commander, Defensive Tactics Instructor, Emergency Response Team Member, and now, Detective.
Detective O’Connor holds his Basic and Intermediate Law Enforcement certificates though Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards.
Prior to his service with the CBPD, Detective O’Connor served as a police officer for the Department of Defense and a military police officer in the United States Marine Corps.
Detective O’Connor will be one of three detectives who are currently assigned to that unit. As a detective, he will be working on criminal cases that often require a more in-depth investigation and lengthy follow-up that patrol officers aren’t able to undertake due to their demanding call load. In addition, he will become a member of the Coos County Major Crimes Team.
We are extremely proud of Detective O’Connor and the quality of work he exemplifies. We look forward to what he will bring to the unit, and we welcome him aboard.
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 In response to requests for more time for review and comment, the staff of Coos County, the City of North Bend, and the City of Coos Bay have delayed submitting applications to adopt Coos Bay Estuary Management Plan (CBEMP) revisions. The delay will give community members several more months to review and comment upon the draft products.
The CB Estuary Management Plan (CBEMP) Phase 1 revision represents Coos County’s first step towards improving the plan’s ability to meet the needs of the communities and local governments encompassed by the plan. CBEMP Phase 1 revisions are intended to:
1) improve plan usability
2) update some maps and inventory data
3) improve coordination between jurisdictions
4) update the 40-year-old plan with current agency names, laws and regulations
CBEMP Phase 1 revisions do not include any changes to zoning or management unit designations—those will be addressed in subsequent phases.
To review the current draft CBEMP Phase 1 updates, click here.
Comments can be sent to Jill Rolfe, Coos County Community Development Director, at planning@co.coos.or.us. Comments are due by May 26, 2023.
A link to revised maps and near-final Plan documents will be on the Coos County website by late April. This will include a link to a user-friendly online map, where map layers can be used to align management units on top of current and revised resource inventories.
A Public Open House will be held on Wednesday, May 10 at the Coos Bay City Hall (500 Central Avenue, Coos Bay) from 3:30 p.m.-7 p.m. Representatives from Coos County, the City of North Bend, the City of Coos Bay, the Partnership for Coastal Watersheds, and the University of Oregon Institute for Policy Research and Education will be on hand to answer questions about the background of the plan update, explain current recommendations, and outline next steps. Presentations on background information and plan update content will be held at 3:30 p.m. and 5:15 p.m. during this Open House. Recordings of presentations will be made available for remote viewing following the event.
If you have questions, please contact Coos County Community Development at 541-396-7770 or email planning@co.coos.or.us.
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 In 2019, the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay (Port) received a grant of $20 million through the BUILD program from the Federal government and matching funds of $5 million from the State of Oregon to complete a comprehensive rehabilitation program for 15 steel bridges along the Coos Bay Rail Line (CBRL), with the vision of strengthening the line to meet future increased volume along the line.
The first phase of the project has been completed with the full replacement of the Coalbank Slough Bridge. This is the last bridge on the line approaching the Terminal One property, a 167-acre site that was formerly a Georgia Pacific Mill purchased by the Port in 2022 for redevelopment as a multi-user marine terminal.
Work has recently been completed by Scott Partney Construction on ten additional steel bridges in the Wild Cat Creek area. Work included tie replacement on the bridges and certain approaches, complete replacement of a section of rail on one of the bridges improving wing walls to aid in ballast retention, replacing rivets with high strength bolds, stringer replacement, and web stiffeners.
In total, the project cost approximately $1.88 million and took just over a year to complete. Legacy Construction has initiated the third phase of the project, which will include repairs to all three of the swing span bridges on the line in North Bend, Reedsport, and Cushman. The final phase of this project will include significant repairs to the Vaughn Viaduct bridge on the north end of the line, which nearly all rail cars must pass over.
In the coming months, the Port will also be kicking off a comprehensive tie and ballast replacement project throughout the line. This work will be funded by a $10 million grant through the Port Infrastructure and Development program, with the goal of increasing overall train speeds on the line.
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Earth Day Volunteers to Remove Scotch Broom at the Airport
 As part of the Earth Day activities around the globe, volunteers will gather to eradicate invasive Scotch broom and French broom growing within the Coos County Airport District (CCAD) property near the Southwest Oregon Regional Airport. The event is part of the Earth Day activities held in April.
Volunteers will stage west of Airport Heights Park at the intersection of Colorado and Arthur from noon to 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 22. They will then spread out along the trail above the airport and pull seedlings and juvenile plants. Cytisus scoparius (Scotch broom) and Genista monspessulan (French broom) are invasive shrubs because they tend to outcompete native plants and potentially spread wildfires.
 A billion people globally will likely celebrate Earth Day globally and undertake projects to protect the planet. The theme “Invest in Our Planet” is designed to persuade businesses, governments, and citizens to improve the environment and give descendants a better and safer future. Local organizer, Steve Skinner, hopes people wanting to take part in Earth Day activities will “show the love” and prevent the spread of the noxious shrub.
The event is made possible by Oregon Bay Area Beautification, North Bend High School National Honor Society, the Airport Heights neighborhood, Coos Watershed Association, and the Coos County Airport District commissioners and staff. Volunteers are encouraged to bring gloves and water. A portable restroom will be available. North Bend Sanitation is providing dumpsters at no cost for the event.
CCAD is a special district that owns and operates the Southwest Oregon Regional Airport. It consists of 619 landside and airside acres and leases over 33 commercial facilities, that combined with those tenants, help employ over 600 personnel. For more information, call (541) 756-8531 or visit our website www.flyoth.com. You can also follow the Southwest Oregon Regional Airport on Facebook.
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