$300 million planned Brinnon resort stirs passion over change
Ian McFall, representing the developer Statesman Group, shows office buildings at Pleasant Harbor Marina that would be replaced by townhomes and retail shops, should the company gain approval to building up to 890 units and upgrade the marina in a master-planned resort development. -- Photo by Jeff Chew/Peninsula Daily News
By Jeff Chew, Peninsula Daily News
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They disagree about whether the change would be for the better.
At issue is a $300 million, 890-unit master-planned resort on 252.6 acres of Black Point south of Brinnon and Pleasant Harbor Marina.
The Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board will hear arguments at 10 a.m. Monday in the Port Townsend Pope Marine Building.
The board will have 60 days to decide if the county's rezoning of the property for the resort violated the state Growth Management Act.
The Brinnon resort would encompass the existing Pleasant Harbor Marina, which will remain at 284 slips, and a "retail village" with 90 condominium units would be added.
An 18-hole golf course would be constructed on a site previously used as a Thousand Trails campground.
Add jobs, revenue
The development would add 280 jobs and inject about $2.5 million into Jefferson County's revenue-deficient tax coffers, said Ian McFall, project marketing representative and pro-economic development Brinnon-area resident.
The estimated assessed value of the project upon completion would be $450 million, McFall said, which could bring in $2.5 million in annual tax revenue for schools, roads and emergency services.
It would also be good for the environment, he said.
Statesman Group of Companies, which is based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, bills its proposal as a "super green development."
"In the end game, you are going to have a sustainable green area, which you don't have today," McFall said.
"The idea is to bring people here for an eco-tourism experience.
"The facts are that this resort will bring hundreds of new visitors to Brinnon who want to enjoy the beauty and rural nature of the area," he said.
Brinnon business owners who oppose the resort point out that it will add more than double the number of people already living in the area.
The 2000 Census counted a population of 803 residents in Brinnon.
Upon completion, the developer estimates about 1,700 would inhabit the resort.
'Too big'
"The most common concern in the community is that the resort is too big," said Andrea Mitchell, who operates a Brinnon construction company with her husband, Robert.
"It's ostentatious, and out of character, for a small, rural community.
"Many believe it will have the effect of removing the town of Brinnon from its historic location, and placing the commercial center within the resort, and owned by a foreign developer."
Mitchell's latter point is a paramount objection for Jean Johnson, who has owned Brinnon General Store for 21 years.
"One thing I have harped on from the beginning is it's from a foreign country," said Johnson, president of the Brinnon Group, which opposes the resort.
"I'm sick and tired of all our public assets becoming owned by foreign countries," she said.
"This is not what our military is fighting for. It's like America has become a playground."
Both Mitchell and Johnson don't believe the resort will be good for the environment.
"Residents are concerned that the golf course and reclaimed water aquifer recharge activities will pollute the aquifer," Mitchell said.
Concerns have also been raised that pollutants would leach into the Hood Canal.
"Fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides used on golf courses are a major concern," Mitchell said.
Clean it up
McFall counters that the golf course irrigation will use best management practices, and that runoff from the irrigation would be filtered through swales.
"The existing pollution from stormwater runoff from [U.S. Highway 101], which contains heavy metal contaminants, is far more serious than anything produced by the golf course.
"This deadly pollution will be prevented when the resort is built."
McFall said that 16 septic systems on the old campground site would be replaced by a water and sewage treatment system.
The system, which he hopes to see in place by 2013, would allow recycling of "Class A" water — reclaimed water that is not pure enough to drink — for golf course irrigation and other industrial uses.
"There's a lot of problems that need to be fixed, and this project will fix those problems," McFall said.
Every home would have drinking water and access to use of reclaimed water for industrial uses such as toilets, he said.
Townhomes and retail shops would be located along Highway 101, below the highway grade, he said.
The road leading into the marina, which is now eroding in several places, would be graded level with the marina.
Drainage from Highway 101 would be captured and treated on site, preventing petroleum and chemical pollution from leaking into the marina and Hood Canal — as is the case now, he said.
Traffic
The resort would increase traffic dramatically, Mitchell said.
"By my calculations from the [environmental impact statement], traffic estimates are an increase of 47 percent going south and 67 percent going north," she said.
"An expert questioned the [state Department of Transportation] figures in the [environmental impact statement] and substantiated estimates that the traffic will increase 225 to 875 percent."
Those number are "significant," she said, "especially on a narrow, two-lane highway with minimal shoulders, and dangerous, slide-prone terrain.
McFall said: "Obviously, there will be more traffic with 890 units, 52 of which would be set aside for the resort's workforce, but that traffic would be no worse than the annual Shrimpfest," he said
Improved traffic access from Highway 101 is also part of Statesman's plans.
Mitchell said she is not critical of all that Statesman is trying to do.
"Much of the proposed technology is innovative," she said.
"My personal feeling is that with every engineering feat, there is always a cost, but that cost is rarely recognized until years down the road.
"This is rarely the developer's problem, but becomes that of the county, residents, taxpayers, [public utility district], rate payers and of the homeowners' association or the environment who pays the cost."
________
Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
Growth board to meet Monday
The Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board will hear arguments concerning the proposed master-planned resort in Brinnon on Monday.
The hearing starts at 10 a.m. in the Pope Marine Building at Water and Madison streets in Port Townsend.
In January, the three Jefferson County commissioners approved the rezoning of the acreage planned for the Pleasant Harbor Marina and Golf Resort.
The Brinnon Group seeks an order to void any development agreement or development regulations the Jefferson County commissioners adopted Jan. 14 with their master-planned resort rezoning approval.
Attorney Gerald Steele is expected to argue that Jefferson County and Statesman Group of Companies did not allow enough public comment and process.
Steele will argue against Statesman corporate attorney Sandy Mackie and David Alvarez, county civil deputy prosecuting attorney representing the county commissioners.
The board will have up to 60 days to decide whether the county complied with the state Growth Management Act.
The public will be allowed to listen to the hearing, but not to comment.
The Brinnon Group and Brinnon MPR Opposition also filed a lawsuit on Feb. 19 in Clallam County Superior Court challenging Jefferson County commissioners' rezoning approval.
Project sparks 400 comments
Plans for the Pleasant Harbor Marina and Golf Resort have sparked more than 400 written and verbal formal comments, said Al Scalf, director of the Jefferson County Department of Community Development.
A public meeting will be conducted soon, possibly in September, to review environmental concerns, he said.
Statesman can apply for project permits after county commissioners adopt Statesman's development agreement and the zoning code, Scalf said.
The company has to go before the county hearing examiner for the bulk of its permits, Scalf said.
"There's a lot of decisions to be made," he added.
Fire District No. 4 will have to sign off on county permits before the project is approved, said Chief Bob Herbst.
He said he took an aggressive early role in the planning process to assure adequate emergency vehicle access and equipment.
"I got in on the front end rather than the back end," Herbst said.
"It goes beyond EMS and fire protection. There has to be a fire plan for fuel dock and spills."
The fire district also has a say in construction design and materials used, he said.
Herbst specified in the environmental impact statement that the developer provide the necessary equipment based on the local fire authority and an assessment review.
Based on a $300 million assessed value and based on the fire district's existing levy, the district is expecting between $300,000 and $500,000 a year from the resort.
"I don't have a problem with Statesman," Herbst said.
"That's why I took pains with the final [environmental impact statement].
"We wanted to make sure we could deal with it in the future."
Last modified: August 23. 2008 9:00PM