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Jim Adkisson

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From this morning's Oregonian:

New rules hang up Bandon land deal

By Kelly House The Oregonian/OregonLive

Golf Developer Mike Keiser has come under scrutiny after the Oregon State Parks and Recreation Department discovered his crews blazed a makeshift road on their land, hauled heavy equipment and drilled several test holes, all without asking the department’s permission.


Add about $450,000 to the price Mike Keiser must pay if he wants to buy state parkland on Oregon’s south coast and turn it into a golf course. Then subtract the college scholarships and environmental restoration work he vowed to provide with revenue from the course.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which controls the fate of the 280-acre piece of the Ban-don State Natural area, has included those details in a list of hurdles Keiser must clear to buy the land.



“We’ve never dealt with a process like this,” bureau spokeswoman Megan Harper said, so new wrinkles continue to emerge as the agency works through a process to turn over the land to Keiser’s company, Bandon Biota.

The requirements cast a new layer of uncertainty over the controversial deal.

The Oregon State Parks Commission agreed in 2014 to give Keiser a chunk of the 878-acre park in exchange for $2.5 million, 216 acres of land elsewhere on the coast and money to control an invasive plant known as gorse.

Keiser hopes to build a 27-hole course on the property, adding to a portfolio that includes five courses at the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort 14 miles up the road.

Keiser and his supporters laud the deal as a chance to make use of idle land while stimulating the local economy. Opponents say the decision to shed state parkland at the behest of a private developer sets a dangerous precedent.

The deal is unusual for several reasons.

First, Oregon had never considered selling active state parkland to a private developer. Second, the parks department did so under pressure from former Gov. John Kitzhaber. It’s extremely rare for an Oregon governor to get involved in state parks land deals. Finally, the state lacks the legal authority to sell the land.

The Bureau of Land Management gifted much of the Bandon State Natural Area to the state in 1968, under the condition that it never be used as anything other than a state park.

State parks officials and Bandon Biota executives hope to get around that clause by obtaining a so-called change-of-use permit reclassifying the parcel as recreation land. Ban-don Biota would then create a nonprofit entity to own and manage the land for recreational use.

Keiser’s team had expected to finish the permit application this month, triggering a lengthy review process during which the bureau would decide whether to allow a golf course on the property.

The bureau’s requirements have stalled the application process.

Bureau officials told parks staff early this month that in addition to securing the permit, Keiser must pay half of market value for the property, minus a token fee the parks department paid for the land. The bill is expected to come to about $450,000.

Keiser also would have to drastically alter his business plan to make the deal work.

According to bureau rules, greens fees at the course would have to compete with other nonprofit courses operating on the federal agency’s land. Any money earned in the process would have to go back into the operation.

Both provisions contradict Keiser’s plans. He wants to charge Coos County residents $20 for a round of golf, while requiring tourists to pony up the expensive resort rate. Profits would fund college scholarships for local teens and invasive species removal projects on the coast.

Keiser’s lawyer, Steve Corey, could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon. Last week, he said Keiser’s team is reviewing the information to determine how it affects their plans.

If nothing else, it probably will cause the parks department and Bandon Biota to miss their self-appointed June 2016 deadline to close the deal.

Harper said given the delay in receiving an application, it’s unlikely the bureau could decide by June whether to permit Keiser’s golf course.

“It will take a year, minimum, for us to get through this process,” she said.

The parks spokesman in charge of the land swap was out of the office Monday, and parks officials declined to make another person available for comment.

Cameron La Follette, Oregon Coast Alliance director and the land swap’s most vocal opponent, argued the new requirements weaken Keiser’s case for buying the land.

“This exchange was never a good policy move from our point of view,” La Follette said, “and now the justification Bandon Biota has always used for this golf course — that it would give back to the local community

— is gone.”

While Keiser’s team digests the new information, Parks officials continue to assess the damage inflicted when Keiser’s crews entered the park in the spring of 2014 to look for groundwater. They blazed roads into sensitive forested dunes and drilled deep, cement-lined holes.

They never notified parks officials, who learned of the disturbance last month after a ranger wandered across the construction site. That triggered an investigation into the extent of the damage, which is expected to wrap up within days.

The parks commission discussed the damage during a meeting last week but made no decisions about who should pay to clean up the mess.

•  khouse@oregonian.com

503-221-8178

Jim Adkisson

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Re: New rules hang up Bandon land deal...report from Oregonian 9/29/15
« Reply #1 on: September 29, 2015, 09:21:51 AM »
Too many layers of government agencies not knowing what the other agencies are doing? 

Or the history of their dealings with those other agencies? 

Or not looking at individual projects that could provide benefits that those agencies never anticipated or understand?

John Cowden

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Re: New rules hang up Bandon land deal...report from Oregonian 9/29/15
« Reply #2 on: September 29, 2015, 09:57:01 AM »
The agencies should also balance the merits of Keiser's proposal with the number of unemployed loggers, fishermen, and longshormen who keep the local meth economy strong, that is, those who have not been fortunate enough to benefit from the hundreds of jobs BDGR has provided over the last 16 years.

Niall C

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Re: New rules hang up Bandon land deal...report from Oregonian 9/29/15
« Reply #3 on: September 29, 2015, 10:09:31 AM »

"Or not looking at individual projects that could provide benefits that those agencies never anticipated or understand?"

alternatively the government agency were willing to look beyond the normal terms of their remit, to facilitate a development that might be considered for the public good (as distinct from Keisers own personal interest) and agreeing the benefits that should flow to the public realm (ie. money, scholarships, gorse removal) out of that development. That the developer should abuse that willingness to accommodate the development by trespassing and degrading an environmentally sensitive site is at best unfortunate and at worst reprehensible.


Hard to see how the public agency should take the blame for this but then I'm only going on a newspaper report.


Niall

archie_struthers

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Re: New rules hang up Bandon land deal...report from Oregonian 9/29/15
« Reply #4 on: September 29, 2015, 07:32:02 PM »
 :'( :o




Keyser seems awfully smart and will no doubt come with a good solution . If it was me , not so smart I'd tell them to go pound  sand. Then of course they would retaliate against the other properties at Bandon .


What a farce this government oversight tends to be . Either tell him yes or no and move on . Rather they make him hire all the "favored experts " who are cronies of the bureaucracy . I'm not saying Keiser was right in starting by any means , just can't stand the BS that accompanies agencies.


Try to get a permit for a deck and they torture you . What a crock !
« Last Edit: September 29, 2015, 07:35:59 PM by archie_struthers »

Tom_Doak

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Re: New rules hang up Bandon land deal...report from Oregonian 9/29/15
« Reply #5 on: September 29, 2015, 09:54:46 PM »
Land swap deals like this one are almost impossible to pull off.  Even if the vast majority of people and politicians are on your side, in the end, you need a bureaucrat to stick their neck out and sign off on the deal -- and there is no incentive for them to do so, because they feel like it can only backfire on them.  So they keep stalling, and wanting to negotiate and renegotiate for ever more favorable terms, until you get to the point where doing the deal makes no financial sense.


I do not know any specifics of the project, but it sounds as though they are in trouble for going out there and drilling a test well to see if there was enough groundwater to irrigate the course ... something that had to be done as part of seeing if the project was feasible.  Did the state insist that they couldn't do that until after the deal was finalized?

Peter Pallotta

Re: New rules hang up Bandon land deal...report from Oregonian 9/29/15
« Reply #6 on: September 29, 2015, 11:40:03 PM »
Tom - in my view, your post didn't get the situation right. The bureaucrat(s) in question will indeed be hesitant to sign off on the deal, but it's not because they want and/or will wait for more favourable terms; such financial terms aren't their "incentive" at all. What they actually want -- and what as of yet they do not have -- is a *precedent*, i.e. some framework for such a land swap/deal that might inform their thinking moving forward and help them to feel/know that their ultimate decision will be prudent and legal and in the state's best interests, interests which those bureaucrats are paid (and our proud) to promote and defend. *That's* their incentive, and that is the challenge as well i.e. finding what framework/precedent/approach may be available to support a wise and fair decision, especially given the 1968 requirement that the land Mr. Keiser now wants was never to be used for anything but a park. I think Mr. K and his team would be wise not to look at this as an adversarial situation, but instead as a opportunity for collaboration, i.e. to help the state officials to find/develop a framework for moving forward that is, from their perspective, practical, logical, honourable, and defensible.

archie_struthers

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Re: New rules hang up Bandon land deal...report from Oregonian 9/29/15
« Reply #7 on: September 30, 2015, 07:00:43 AM »
 :'( :'(


Pete your post is intelligent , insightful and most likely a good description of the situation. Bureaucratic manipulationss ultimately are more about protecting their  position and power over others than what is inherently good for the individual citizen.


If indeed the parcel in question has an intrinsic value to the environment that is irreplaceable , then the discussion should be moot. Rather we spend taxpayer dollars that could better be used rebuilding roads or helping truly needy citizens.  My preference would be not to collect the massive taxes at all unless they had real purpose. Instead we enrich the bureaucrats by paying them to engage in the back and forth process that stifles creativity save for the well connected and fabulously  wealthy. 

jeffwarne

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Re: New rules hang up Bandon land deal...report from Oregonian 9/29/15
« Reply #8 on: September 30, 2015, 07:37:11 AM »
A minority view


Over the years I've found newspaper articles about things I'm intimately familiar with to often be woefully inaccurate. (which leads me to believe that many articles about subjects I'm unfamiliar with-such as this- are the same)
As an aside, I am always amazed that many here frequently cite newspaper articles as irrefutable evidence in their ongoing squabbles. (think Merion ;) )


That said, if the article is accurate, it would seem a developer would need permission to build a road and dig multiple test wells, regardless of how essential that info is to the deal.


It's easy to blame bureaucrats, but the land was deeded under the condition "that it never be used as anything other than a state park" so it's not hard to see why there wouldn't be some opposition.


Though it may provide future employment, I'm not sure that should always be the deciding factor when it comes to protecting scarce precious land assets.
I realize we're not dealing with Trump, and that the deal involves mitigation that can be good for both parties, but, if the article is true, (and that's a big caveat) I'd say unauthorized road building and test welling would make me leery as well if I were a state official with good intentions.
« Last Edit: October 08, 2015, 05:18:33 PM by jeffwarne »
"Let's slow the damned greens down a bit, not take the character out of them." Tom Doak
"Take their focus off the grass and put it squarely on interesting golf." Don Mahaffey

Jeff Taylor

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Re: New rules hang up Bandon land deal...report from Oregonian 9/29/15
« Reply #9 on: September 30, 2015, 08:47:24 AM »
"unauthorized road building and test welling"

This seems unforgivable. Who would think to do such a thing when they know how sensitive the project is and that a mistake of this kind would more than likely kill the deal?
Apart from that, what is the point of giving land to a state and then dictating what they can do with it? Why give it in the first place? The concept of property rights takes a beating in the story.
« Last Edit: September 30, 2015, 10:24:38 AM by Jeff Taylor »

William_G

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Re: New rules hang up Bandon land deal...report from Oregonian 9/29/15
« Reply #10 on: September 30, 2015, 09:18:03 AM »
there are roads on the property used by ATVs and motorcycles already

the state is getting plenty in return fin this swap

the author of the report has a history of stirring the pot

the BLM will eventually approve the deal

the golf course eventually will be built and the community will benefit

it is just excruciating to see Oregon idiots in action
It's all about the golf!

archie_struthers

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Re: New rules hang up Bandon land deal...report from Oregonian 9/29/15
« Reply #11 on: September 30, 2015, 10:26:24 AM »
 :'(




Actually , he idiocy is a practiced strategy to empower control in a centralized fashion . It is endemic to mor and more areas of the country .


Jason Way

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Re: New rules hang up Bandon land deal...report from Oregonian 9/29/15
« Reply #12 on: September 30, 2015, 10:50:03 AM »
The project has been killed:


http://www.golfcourseindustry.com/gci/093015-Bandon-Links-Keiser.aspx


"Mike Keiser, the owner of the famed Bandon Dunes Resort, released a statement through KemperSports announcing his intention to terminate the proposed Bandon Links project in Southern Oregon."
"Golf is a science, the study of a lifetime, in which you can exhaust yourself but never your subject." - David Forgan

William_G

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Re: New rules hang up Bandon land deal...report from Oregonian 9/29/15
« Reply #13 on: September 30, 2015, 11:02:00 AM »
bummer
It's all about the golf!

John Kavanaugh

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Re: New rules hang up Bandon land deal...report from Oregonian 9/29/15
« Reply #14 on: September 30, 2015, 01:21:31 PM »
I went to Bandon a couple of times very early on and felt that the locals were not in love with the influx of golfers.  This being the local locals, not people in a service industry looking for a gratuity.  My home town was excited to land a couple of prisons because of the job prospects but soon tired of the prisoners.  Nobody sees a golfer in the wild and thinks of the positive influence it may have on their culture.  I'd always take prisoners behind bars before a group of golfers roaming the streets.  I also find it odd that cheap golf for the underemployed is a selling point. Sounds like half off at Tiffany's.

Howard Riefs

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"Golf combines two favorite American pastimes: Taking long walks and hitting things with a stick."  ~P.J. O'Rourke

Tom_Doak

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Re: New rules hang up Bandon land deal...report from Oregonian 9/29/15
« Reply #16 on: September 30, 2015, 03:06:05 PM »
Tom - in my view, your post didn't get the situation right. The bureaucrat(s) in question will indeed be hesitant to sign off on the deal, but it's not because they want and/or will wait for more favourable terms; such financial terms aren't their "incentive" at all. What they actually want -- and what as of yet they do not have -- is a *precedent*, i.e. some framework for such a land swap/deal that might inform their thinking moving forward and help them to feel/know that their ultimate decision will be prudent and legal and in the state's best interests, interests which those bureaucrats are paid (and our proud) to promote and defend. *That's* their incentive, and that is the challenge as well i.e. finding what framework/precedent/approach may be available to support a wise and fair decision,


Peter:


You made the mistake of assuming that by "terms" I meant financial terms, when instead I meant all of the other possibilities you enumerated here.  That's what makes the negotiation so difficult:  it's on multiple levels, and there is no way to see the finish line, because next week a new person might be involved who places entirely different values on every piece.  Sadly, it looks like the whole deal is now moot ... although Donald Trump could tell us that announcing publicly that you are walking away from a deal can also be a negotiating tactic.

Pat Burke

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Re: New rules hang up Bandon land deal...report from Oregonian 9/29/15
« Reply #17 on: September 30, 2015, 03:23:25 PM »
I was peripherally involved with a golf course being developed in Southern Cal years ago.
The amount goalpost moving done by the county government was mind boggling. 
Constant changes on permitting, deadline surprises (more $$) to build useless infrastructure etc.


The owners were forced to build a road past the clubhouse, to an intersection point with a dirt road.
It was approx 550 yards of 2 lane asphalt with curbs.
No occupancy permit would be given until the road was extended, as they were told the county
was going to finish the road through the intersection on to another rural road.  The tees of one hole were
completely compromised by the prescribed route.  Of course the road was built (paid by the developer) and 20 years later still ends at the dirt trail.


One green sight had a backdrop of trees and natural mounding.  Right before opening the course, the county came in and removed the trees to make way for a horse trail that was never put in.
It was almost comical.

Jud_T

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Re: New rules hang up Bandon land deal...report from Oregonian 9/29/15
« Reply #18 on: September 30, 2015, 06:39:08 PM »
Sounds like the right move on his part.  Either they come to their senses and come back to the table with something workable or he takes his marbles and goes home.  A bummer nevertheless, particularly for the locals from the sound of it.  For the rest of us there's already an embarrassment of golfing riches at the resort proper as well as his other projects.
Golf is a game. We play it. Somewhere along the way we took the fun out of it and charged a premium to be punished.- - Ron Sirak

Pete_Pittock

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Re: New rules hang up Bandon land deal...report from Oregonian 9/29/15
« Reply #19 on: September 30, 2015, 07:33:37 PM »
It was probably the right choice. It would be hard to overcome the fact that the land was donated for perpetual use as a park. The rare intervention by a scandal-ridden ex-governor who resigned because of the scandal was an albatross.
It will be a win for Bandon Crossings.  Beyond the resort, there is a low cost course for the populace -Hixson's Bandon Crossings. I don't think the population could support two courses, as evidenced by the closure of the motel/hickory course Old Bandon Links(?).   

archie_struthers

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Re: New rules hang up Bandon land deal...report from Oregonian 9/29/15
« Reply #20 on: September 30, 2015, 07:59:24 PM »
 :'( :'(




Pat is spot on ! In NJ a road to nowhere isn't unusual , with curbs and all , what a joke . We had to do many things tthat the government owned course , McCullagh's Emerald Links , got a pass on.


We had to landscape our whole perimeter. ($150,000 k) they didn't.  We had to build a sidewalk thru the dunes that we built to shield the property from the road we were on , they didn't.  They got a free liquor license , we had to spend $240,000 if we wanted one.


They made us tear out an asphalt pavement leading to the clubhouse that supposedly didn't meet ADA requirements for slope , it was bullshit . On and on it went slowing our progress and threatening us with shutdowns almost daily . Our job was so much cleaner and safer than theirs that the county representative said she would testify in our behalf , she was removed from her job . Yep , they are the worst , but it won't stop until someone with incredible talent  and no family gets elected , just scary .

More bad stuff happened , but I've bitched enough . Suffice it to say that our earth moving machines  and construction vehicles got vandalized after the union guys visited me.

Despite this ,the course we built is  far better than the one down the street owned by the township, but they don't have to pay taxes or debt service I will never open another business in NJ.



« Last Edit: September 30, 2015, 08:12:10 PM by archie_struthers »

Pete_Pittock

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Jon Cavalier

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Re: New rules hang up Bandon land deal...report from Oregonian 9/29/15
« Reply #22 on: September 30, 2015, 11:30:31 PM »
Well said, Archie; especially this:


Despite this ,the course we built is  far better than the one down the street owned by the township

Truer words may never have been spoken.
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Sean_A

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Re: New rules hang up Bandon land deal...report from Oregonian 9/29/15
« Reply #23 on: October 01, 2015, 04:05:09 AM »
Sorry to rain on the party, but this is state land donated by the federal government to Oregon. It isn't at all clear to me that this deal is in the public interest.  Don't people think there should be exraordinary due diligence where the sale/swap of state land is concerned? Some posters are operating under the assumption that this deal is good for golf and therefore good for the public.  I haven't seen any numbers to support this assumption.  Hell, if I was a pencil pusher in the deal I too would be looking around like a fighter pilot to see what or if there is a scam, who will get hammered once the shit hits the fan and what is the best possible deal.  These folks aren't developers, they are pencil pushers.  If the deal falls through or not, I am glad we have some pencil pushers in place who ask hard questions, demand a high return and generally protect public land. 


Ciao
New plays planned for 2024: Nothing

Jim Nugent

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Re: New rules hang up Bandon land deal...report from Oregonian 9/29/15
« Reply #24 on: October 01, 2015, 05:29:12 AM »
Does anyone know how BLM acquired the land?