News Release // Oregon Parks and Recreation Department // FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Release Date: September 12, 2023
Oregon Parks and Recreation Department holds open house 9/27 on idea of county managing McVay Rock State Park
Brookings, Ore. – The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD) manages McVay Rock State Recreation Site in south Curry County. The 19-acre park supports daytime visits with a beach access, off-leash pet area, disc golf course, and unpaved parking. There is no restroom or drinking water at the park. OPRD is discussing the possibility of leasing McVay to Curry County to continue its life as a public park, and is holding an open house at the Chetco Activity Center (550 Chetco Lane, Brookings OR) from 5-7 p.m. on September 27 to take feedback and answer questions about the idea. The meeting room is small, and there is no agenda, so people interested in discussing the idea can drop by any time from 5-7 p.m.
OPRD has been taking comments from people who live near the park for several months through a survey online at https://bit.ly/mcvayrock and will share results at the open house. The idea to explore a partnership with the county originated with a separate property swap in the north part of the county in 2020. OPRD received county land on the western shore of Floras Lake in trade for an undeveloped state parcel adjacent to US 101 north of Port Orford, and agreed to study other property agreements as a condition of the trade. The county requested a review of McVay Rock.
The park is managed by a state park crew that handles parks from Cape Sebastian near Gold Beach, to Crissey Field on the California border, and over to Loeb on the Chetco River. If OPRD leased McVay to the county, it would maintain the existing beach access, disc golf course, and pet area, and consider future improvements to these services and could eventually consider adding a covered area for group events, and tent space for hikers and bicyclists. Informal survey results show people have mixed feelings about improvements, and concerns about whether camping would be manageable without disrupting the neighborhood around the park.
No decision has been made about whether to pursue leasing the park to the county. If it decides to go that route, OPRD staff will draft a proposal for county and community review later this fall.
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