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Coos Bay planning commission backs 2025 economic-opportunities analysis after public hearing
Summary
After public testimony raising concerns about Port-related assumptions and job estimates, the Coos Bay Planning Commission recommended that the City Council consider adopting the 2025 Economic Opportunities Analysis and related comprehensive-plan text amendments; staff emphasized the EOA is a planning document, not project approval.
The Coos Bay Planning Commission on Oct. 14 opened a public hearing on a legislative text amendment to adopt the city'025 Economic Opportunities Analysis (EOA) and companion comprehensive-plan policy updates, and after public comment voted to forward a recommendation to the City Council.
The EOA replaces the 2009 analysis and is intended to satisfy Oregon statewide planning requirements to maintain a 20-year supply of industrial and commercial lands. City staff told commissioners the draft reflects a year of public engagement, a public advisory committee, interviews, focus groups and an online survey, and is meant to forecast realistic needs over a 20-year horizon.
Some public commenters urged more study before adoption. Ashley R. Dickey of the climate-justice organization Real Climate asked the commission to continue the hearing and to remove language she said biased the EOA toward Port-related projects. "Developing a deep draft channel would have irreversible impacts on essential habitats, cultural resources, and nearby communities," Dickey said, and she described the 9,400-job figure tied to the Pacific Coast Intermodal Project (PCIP) as "speculative without any citations." Another commenter disputed figures cited in the draft, saying documents provided to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers show different cost and job estimates.
Staff responded that the EOA "stands alone and separate from" any single project and does not, by itself, allow a project to proceed. Staff noted the EOA documents that only a small portion of the larger job estimates would be attributed to Coos County or to Coos Bay itself: "this plan, on page 39 of the packet, calls out that only 600 to 1,200 of those total jobs are actually being attributed to Coos County," staff said. Staff also said the city received a $50,000 grant from the Ford Family Foundation to complete the work and that the draft incorporates available feedback.
Commissioners emphasized that the EOA is a planning tool and not a permit or automatic approval for any Port project. After closing the public record, the commission deliberated and moved to recommend that City Council approve the land-use application and proposed findings of approval. The City Council is tentatively scheduled to consider the recommendation at a regular meeting on Nov. 4, 2025.
The planning commission record will be forwarded to council for its hearing; any future permits or permit exceptions for large projects such as the PCIP would require separate reviews, environmental review and additional approvals before any construction could proceed.
