Bandon Dunes is a links-style golf resort on the southern coast of Oregon and a global destination for golf tourists.
Flickr/Ryan
The developer of the Bandon Dunes golf resort won preliminary approval Wednesday to acquire land for a new 27-hole golf course on the Oregon Coast.
It’s part of a land exchange that has sparked opposition from some coastal residents and eastern Oregon ranchers.
Development company Bandon Biota has been eyeing a 280-acre parcel of the Bandon State Natural Area for its next golf course.
In exchange Biota has offered to swap the Oregon Parks Department two smaller parcels of coast land, along with about $2.5 million. That's roughly the price of a large ranch with ponderosa pines the parks department wants to buy in Grant County.
Cameron LaFollette, with the Oregon Coast Alliance, thinks the state is giving away too much.
“The areas that Bandon Biota wants are some of the areas with the highest amounts of wetland, of rare plant habitat, of dunal ecosystem,” LaFollette said.
Some Grant County residents say they are concerned about the loss of productive ranch land. Park commissioners have given preliminary approval to the deal and will take a final vote in February. It will take public comments until December 6.
Bandon Biota said in a statement that it intends to preserve the natural character of the land it acquires and design the golf course in a way that protects native plants and wetlands.