January 12, 2023 

To Local, State & Federal Agency representatives 

From Amanda Ferguson, Project Coordinator 

SUBJECT COOS BAY ESTUARY MANAGEMENT PLAN UPDATE  

AGENCY REVIEW REQUEST  

BACKGROUND 

In 2015, the Partnership for Coastal Watersheds (PCW), including staff from the Coos County, City of  Coos Bay, City of North Bend and Port of Coos Bay, began an extensive process to evaluate the current needs of the local governments and the community for the Coos Bay Estuary Management Plan (CBEMP). This effort was patterned from the original CBEMP workgroup setup in the late 1970’s and  early 1980’s, which involved extensive local, regional, state, and federal agency input. With the  assistance of the PCW steering committee, feedback on the current needs related to the CBEMP was  gathered between 2016-2019 through a broad community involvement program that included focus  groups representing economic, socio-cultural, and natural resource protection interests, a public open  house, and a community survey.  

Consultants (University of Oregon, Institute for Policy Research and Engagement (IPRE)) incorporated  this feedback along with a detailed technical review into an integrated assessment that was presented  to the Coos Bay, North Bend and County Planning Commissioners, City Councilors, and County Board of  Commissioners in 2019. The assessment recommended three alternatives for updating the CBEMP – a  full plan update, a partial plan update, or no update. The governing bodies reached consensus to move  forward with a partial plan update in fall 2019. This update proposed to: 1) improve plan usability; 2)  integrate the Coos Bay Estuary Map Atlas and Data Source; and 3) realign the three jurisdictions’  versions of the plan. COVID, unfortunately, stalled the process. 

Current Update Process 

After a receipt of additional funding in 2022 from the Department of Land Conservation and  Development, the County and City Staff revived this project, hiring IPRE once more to assist staff to adopt the updated plan by June 2023.  

Working with city and county staff, IPRE has further refined the draft CBEMP Part 1 (Plan Provisions) and  Part 2 (Inventories and Factual Base). Changes proposed to the 2019 version include further scrivener  error revisions, refinement of plan maintenance and public involvement procedures, and the inclusion  of updated map information (provided by the PCW). These products were made available to the public on the County’s website in December 2022. 

Findings and revised products were reintroduced to Councilors, Planning Commissioners, and Board of  Commissioners in informational work sessions at the Coos Bay City Hall on January 4, 2023. A public 

INSTITUTE FOR POLICY RESEARCH AND ENGAGEMENT 

1209 University of Oregon | Eugene, Oregon 97403 | T: 541.346.2878 | http://ipre.uoregon.edu An equal-opportunity, affirmative-action institution committed to cultural diversity and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act  house was held on January 7, 2023 at the North Bend Community Center to allow the public to see the  products and learn about the process going forward.  Our intent is to formally initiate the legislative adoption process to adopt the 2023 Coos Bay Estuary  Management Plan (Parts 1 & 2) by March 1, 2023. Post-acknowledgement plan amendment packages  including revised implementation ordinance language and findings are currently being developed for all  three jurisdictions.  

UPDATE CONTENT 

The proposed update focuses upon improvements to document structure, plan usability, and land  use/legal framework. Recommendations have been identified for changes to the CBEMP Part 1 (Plan  Provisions) and Part 2 (Inventories and Factual Information), and to the ordinances that implement the  CBEMP in Coos County, Coos Bay and North Bend.  

An overview of the changes include:  

• Update the maps currently used in decision making (which are currently hand-drawn and from  1970’s era information) by including new spatial data in a digital format (Coos Estuary Map  Atlas). 

• Use of clear headers to explain the purpose and contents of each document section. • Use of Figures and Tables to Explain Process and Policies. 

• Update of references in CBEMP to state and federal laws, regulations, agencies, and processes. • Development of a comprehensive and consistent list of definitions. 

• Inclusion of all Management Units in the CBEMP. 

• Capture of Coos Bay-specific policies in CBEMP. 

• Clarification of joint plan maintenance and citizen involvement process.  

• Integration of Coos Estuary Map Atlas and Data Source into CBEMP Part 2. 

• Amendment of local implementing ordinances to adopt unified CBEMP. 

AGENCY REVIEW 

At this time, we are asking stakeholder agencies to review the Draft Coos Bay Estuary Management Plan  (Parts 1 and 2) and the Coos Estuary Map Atlas for concurrence with your agency’s requirements and  interests. The documents can be found at: www.co.coos.or.us/community-dev/page/am-22-005-coos bay-estuary-management-plan, or AM-22-005 Coos Bay Estuary Management Plan | Coos County OR. 

Comments submitted by February 20, 2023 will be addressed as possible in the draft of the document  submitted for the post-acknowledgement plan amendment process to DLCD on March 1. Comments  that are outside of the current scope of work (including comments associated with a Full Plan revision)  are welcome. These comments will be included in the packet provided to staff as part of the final draft.  

Please send comments to: 

Amanda Ferguson, IPRE, (541) 409-2522, afergus4@uoregon.edu 

AND/OR 

Jill Rolfe, Coos County Community Development Director, jrolfe@co.coos.or.us

CBMP Agency Review January 2023 Page | 2