Bonneville Power offers roughly $671,640 to buy ~10‑acre parcel adjacent to North Bend elementary for maintenance headquarters

Bonneville Power Administration representatives proposed buying a roughly 10‑acre partition of the North Bend elementary school parcel and building a new maintenance headquarters there, saying the new facility would allow linemen and substation crews based on the coast to respond more quickly after storms and major seismic events.

"I'm Harley Canaday. I'm a Realty Specialist with the Bonneville Power Administration," said Harley Canaday, introducing the Bonneville team. Brad Wright, identified as Bonneville's facilities manager, explained Bonneville's role and scope: "We take the power that... we generate from the hydro dams in the Northwest... and we have the high voltage energy lines that basically power the entire Northwest." He said the coast crews serve an area from Newport to Gold Beach and that keeping a local facility improves response times.

The Bonneville packet presented to the board included an offer of $671,640 for the parcel and timber, which the presenters said came from a third‑party appraisal based on comparables along the Central Oregon coast. The proposal would partition approximately 10 acres (the packet referenced "10.8/10.1 acres" for the partition) from the district's stated 68‑acre elementary school property. Bonneville representatives said they would pay deed preparation, partition and closing costs and asked the district to participate in the county petition process if the board agreed to a sale.

The presentation described the proposed facility as an office, vehicle and equipment storage site for about 25 linemen, electricians and communications staff — not a substation or high‑voltage structure. "There's not a substation," Brad Wright said. The presenters said the existing North Bend facility dates to the 1970s, is undersized for modern vehicles, and needs seismic upgrades; rebuilding a new, seismically resilient facility on a neighboring parcel was presented as the most practical option.

Board members and community participants asked about site impacts. Questions focused on trails and wetlands within the school parcel, the condition and location of a notable cedar tree, whether mailboxes or existing access roads would be affected, and how construction traffic would affect school drop‑off and pick‑up. A staff member who identified himself as Mr. Nichols said trails would be preserved if the partition line stayed east of the main trail; Bonneville said it planned buffers on the east and south sides and expected a buildable footprint of about seven acres with additional undisturbed buffer land.

Bonneville representatives estimated construction could take up to two years and said they would sequence work to minimize truck traffic during school drop‑off and pick‑up times. "We would absolutely avoid those periods when there's drop off and pickup," one presenter said, adding the company prefers off‑site prefabrication to reduce on‑site truck trips. They also said they would discuss shared road maintenance and generally try to "put it back the way we found it or better" after heavy construction use.

Residents asked whether Bonneville would keep the current facility; presenters said the old building would be demolished and the parcel would be returned to sale. The packet and presenters also mentioned potential educational partnerships: Bonneville staff offered to coordinate subject‑matter presentations or site visits tied to the facilities or regional waterways.

The board did not take a vote on the offer during the meeting; Bonneville asked the district to consider price and terms and to direct county petition coordination if the board wanted to proceed. The presenters left contact information in the meeting packet and asked the board to funnel follow‑up questions through the district's point of contact so all sides could receive consistent responses.

Clarifying details from the presentation: Bonneville's stated offer was $671,640 for property and timber, drawn from an independent appraisal; the company described the partition as "10.8/10.1 acres" in the materials; the full elementary parcel was described in the presentation as 68 acres. Bonneville said the on‑site crew is about 25 people and that the current facility dates to the 1970s.