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Curry County commissioners will resume efforts to gain control of the access point to a once-popular spot on the Chetco River that’s now plagued by illegal dumping, camping and off-road vehicle use.

Social Security Bar is on the river’s north bank about four miles from U.S. 101. The Oregon Department of State Lands owns the gravel bar fishermen, boaters, swimmers and wildlife watchers frequent. The City of Brookings owns the 1.6-acre access point to the gravel bar.

On May 31, DSL sent Curry County Parks Director Wendy Lang notification that the department approved the county’s request to lease the gravel bar.

Though Lang couldn’t attend Wednesday’s meeting, commissioners said they wanted to hold a workshop with the Brookings City Council on leasing the access point.

“I think a workshop would be good to develop a long-term strategic plan in cooperation with the people who live there as well as to talk about the financial responsibilities the county would face to come to a middle ground there,” Commissioner Brad Alcorn told his colleagues. “I think we need to have the city there if they can help us with some of their resources and make this work. I think we need to do this sooner rather than later ‘cause the problem’s not going to get any better and we need to take swift action.”

The swift action Alcorn referred to is against illegal dumping and burning, homeless encampments, off-road vehicles damaging vegetation and “general unlawful behavior,” according to one resident who spoke.

Rob Barrett, another resident, said he nearly got into an altercation with a camper and his dog.

“There is a sign at the entrance that says, ‘Closed to the public 10 p.m.-5 a.m., No Fires May-November and No Overnight Parking,’” Barrett said. “If we can at least get the rules enforced it would certainly be a help. It seems like there’s a jurisdictional problem when you call somebody like the City of Brookings and the county sheriff and you end up with state police and they’re usually not in the area.”

Curry County submitted an application and $750 fee to the Department of State Lands in 2019 for a special use lease to operate a recreational camping facility at Social Security Bar.

However, as of May 31, 2023, DSL doesn’t have a signed authorization from the Curry County Parks Department, according to the department’s letter to Lang.

In his initial proposal to DSL, then-county parks director Josh Hopkins stated that law enforcement is often not readily available to respond to nuisance calls that come in after dark. People dump trash and run off-road vehicles at all hours of the night and “often do so without consequence.”

At that time, the county proposed an ownership transfer with the city. Brookings would donate the access point to Curry County with the stipulation that the county uses it for recreation.

Curry County would employ a camp host to maintain and enforce park regulations as well provide trash service, litter pickup and install a restroom as in-kind services to the Department of State Lands.

“Providing an onsite camp host with the ability to accurately report instances of illegal dumping, fires, parties and off-road vehicles is expected to quickly (curb) these actions,” Hopkins stated.

In his proposal, Hopkins told DSL representatives that the county wanted the ability to charge for dry RV camping on a section of the gravel bar from May 31 through Dec. 31 to offset operational costs of maintaining the area, which was an estimated $7,430 annually as of 2019.

The Brookings City Council at a workshop last week indicated they were interested in pursuing an agreement with the county over its management of Social Security Bar, according to the county’s Wednesday staff report.

The City Council hasn’t finally approved the arrangement yet, however.

On Wednesday, Commissioner Jay Trost said he was part of the county’s 2019 effort to assume management at Social Security Bar. Curry operates other parks that require camp hosts and generate revenue, “so they were a lot more prepared to take something like that on,” he said. Curry County didn’t move forward with that effort due to changes in the parks department, Trost said.

County officials are re-examining leasing both the city and state-controlled properties because the recent DSL letter as well as the dumping and illegal activities that were also a challenge back in 2019, Trost said.

“You could manage the bar and the access point and then you have one jurisdiction in charge,” he said. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense to manage the bar if you can’t manage the access point because now we’re just doubling back into two jurisdictions, and that’s where the camp host would need to be, above the high water mark.”

To move forward, the city needs to approve the proposed lease agreement with the county for the access point and with DSL for the gravel bar, Trost said.

“I don’t think we want to get into the (position) of managing the bar if we can’t manage the access,” he said. “If we can’t manage the access, we can’t have a camp host and if we can’t have a camp host we’re going to be chasing our tail out there just like everybody already is.”

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