After 10 months of negotiations commissioners for Oregon's Port of Bandon yesterday rejected a request from Pacific Seafood Group for more time to negotiate and voted unanimously to kick the seafood processor off the 1.3-acre waterfront property it occupies. Port attorneys are also now drafting a lawsuit.
The seafood buyer signed a 100-year lease in 1976 for $463 a month, provided the company processes seafood at the facility. Port officials declared Pacific's lease null and void earlier this year, claiming the company does not adhere to that provision.
The port agreed to a temporary standstill in January, but the sides haven't been able to work out a compromise. Company officials drafted a proposal that left the conditions of the lease unchanged but would have resulted in Pacific making available a portion of the building the company owns on the property for $1 annually, in exchange for the port's investment of approximately $30,000 to turn the facility into a larger marketplace. Pacific would then make a $50,000 investment and enter into a profit-sharing agreement with the port.
The port found the proposal unacceptable, in large part because Pacific reserved the right to terminate the agreement if it needed more processing space or if the company found it more financially viable to lease it to another tenant.
