Knapp Ranch stretches for 1,100 acres along Curry County’s magnificent coast, just north of Port Orford. You can see Cape Blanco lighthouse in the distance. The Elk River, a famous salmon fishery, borders Knapp Ranch to the north. It is stunning land, and has been in the hands of the Knapps, an old ranching family, for four generations. Now, however, the Knapps are hoping to cash in on the example provided of Bandon Dunes golf resort some miles to the north, and have a golf course of their own. They propose to put a golf course on 330 acres of the ranch, on lands overlooking the ocean.
The developer of the so-called golf course at Knapp Ranch is Troy Russell, a native of the Coquille Valley and a former employee of Bandon Dunes, and one or more golf company partners, doing business as Elk River Property Development (ERPD).
The Golf Course Will Harm the Coast and the Community
ORCA opposes this golf course. It takes a big chunk of coastal farmland out of production; fails to protect important natural resources in the area, such as the riparian areas, hydrology and bottomlands of the Elk River; fails to safeguard its salmon runs, including Federally-threatened SONCC coho, and the fragile estuary; takes no account of geological hazards on the property, including the swiftly crumbling cliff edge, which retreats up to 2.5 feet a year; raises many questions about groundwater contamination of nearby residential wells; and will provide no sustainable, longterm economic benefit for the community.
After appeals by ORCA to the Land Use Board of Appeals, and a revised application by the developers to remove the High Value Farmland, Curry County approved the new application in January 2015. ORCA appealed this approval as well, but ultimately Curry County’s permit for the golf course (with modifications) was affirmed.
The Proposal Expands: Vacation Homes and Irrigating with City Effluent
After finalizing their permit, the developers began expanding their proposal. They requested, and received, a lease of County-owned property nearby for associated vacation housing. Both ERPD and the County ignored the fact that the parcel is in the monitoring area of the now-closed Port Orford landfill, and that groundwater contamination is likely to become a serious issue. The developers are also seeking Port Orford’s wastewater effluent for golf course irrigation. Though wastewater reuse is generally beneficial, not so in this case — since it would “benefit” a golf course on farmland located on sandy, porous soils. The land would be much better served by remaining in farm use. The developers submitted an application to DEQ for the permit the golf course needs to pursue the reuse of wastewater for irrigation. The application is incomplete, and has been so for many years. Port Orford has also, under ERPD’s influence, agreed to amend its Wastewater Facilities Plan to allow effluent reuse for any applicants who have the necessary permits.
The ERPD plan would require a 4-inch pipeline at least three miles long, in addition to a secondary treatment facility at the golf course that includes a large holding pond. It would traverse the city limits and the UGB, crossing over an arm of Garrison Lake, which is a secondary water source for Port Orford. The proposal is to irrigate at least ninety acres of the golf course, using thirty million gallons of water per year. The recycled water would be stored onsite in a seven-acre irrigation pond.
Continued Delays and Time Extensions
In 2017 ERPD received Port Orford approval for its pipeline from the city wastewater treatment plant to the unbuilt golf course. Nothing has been built since, nor are any plans in place, nor is ERPD close to signing an agreement as required with Port Orford for future management of the pipeline. ERPD has requested eight (!) time extensions, one per year, since those approvals were granted, which City Council has, with ever-diminishing hope, continued to approve.
In future, if the golf course is ever built, the company will need permits relating to public health, restaurants and perhaps an additional water right. Anticipating that these might be time-consuming, Sen. Brock Smith introduced a bill in the 2025 Legislature, SB 1047, to require Curry County and the Water Resources Department to place the ERPD permit applications at the head of the line. This was a shocking piece of blatant special interest legislation meant to benefit one project only, at the expense of all others. It also created very bad state policy, allowing a single project to get special privileges. The Legislature approved this bill with little controversy, but Governor Kotek vetoed it. She rightly pointed out the unfairness and unhappy policy consequences of allowing a particular special interest project to jump ahead in line.
If this golf course pipeline goes ahead, Port Orford will have unwisely tied its financial liability for infrastructure repair and replacement to an unproven business venture with no prior history of success. The project, if successful, will also encourage development on the city’s fringes, adding infrastructure burdens the city can ill afford. This is not fiscal prudence. The developers are dangling unsupported figures economic benefit to continue in the good graces of decision-makers, such as those quoted in their time extension appeal letter of June 7, 2025: the golf course will provide up to 300 jobs, becoming Curry County’s largest employer; and it will draw over 20,000 golf tourists annually to the small town of Port Orford. Such figures, even if they were accurate, do not justify, in ORCA’s opinion, the many downsides of this mostly moribund proposal for both the golf course and the irrigation pipeline for wastewater reuse.
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