Coos Bay council authorizes regional problem‑solving process to study adding six areas to urban growth boundary

The Coos Bay City Council voted to authorize the Regional Problem Solving (RPS) process as the pathway to consider including Barview, Blossom Gulch, Bunker Hill, Charleston, Libby and Millington within the city’s urban growth boundary.

Council approved the motion after an extended presentation and discussion in which city staff, a consultant and a DLCD representative said RPS offers the most likely legal and technical route to change the UGB given the city’s unusual planning history.

The RPS process lets local governments “flex” certain DLCD administrative rules when a region can show that alternate steps meet the statewide planning goals. Jay Harlan, a consultant with CSA Planning, told the council that Coos Bay’s situation is atypical: past planning actions left the UGB line effectively aligned with city limits, and a direct legal “validation” approach was judged unlikely to succeed. Harlan said RPS would require a formal agreement between the city and Coos County, a statement of the regional problem and goals, incentives and corrective measures, and then more detailed facility and master planning.

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