The proposed Marriott Hotel in Bandon Old Town is apparently off the table. According to Mayor Schamehorn’s Dec. 11, 2024 column the city has entered into a lease agreement for the "gravel parking lot" on First Street, owned by Bandon Old Town Hotel Partners, LLC (Marriott), represented by Barry Johnson. In exchange, the lot will be exempt from property taxes, and the city will keep the lot free of trash and weeds.
The proposed Marriott was of great concern to the Coquille Tribe, as the property is a well-known and extensively investigated archaeological site. A Marriott in Old Town Bandon would also make the area highly congested, more than it already is, thus harming the area’s ambience. The lot’s use as a parking space, while inelegant, will do the archeological site no harm and will help alleviate the parking problems in Old Town, which are particularly acute in the summer months.
ORCA would prefer a long term solution to this site that would guarantee its protection as an important cultural resource, such as purchase by a land trust or the Tribe. We hope such a solution can be worked on by concerned parties, so that future crises like this one need not occur again.
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