PORT LUDLOW — Should this wealthy master-planned resort community of about 4,000 incorporate to become Jefferson County’s second city?
It’s a question worth serious exploration, say community leaders.
Some question whether they are getting enough for their county property taxes.
“I think Jefferson County — in the 16 years that I’ve lived here — looks at Port Ludlow as a property tax cash cow,” said Bert Loomis, who was a founding member of the Port Ludlow Village Council.
Loomis plans to help form a study group on incorporation early next year.
With Port Ludlow approaching residential build-out, he and others believe residents might be better served by a municipality.
“What are we going to be when we grow up?” asked Elizabeth Van Zonneveld, who served as Port Ludlow Village Council’s president in 2005.
“I think nobody has given (incorporation) serious attention for the last several years because there is the misconception that the master-planned resort is going to go on forever.”
Newly elected Jefferson County commissioner John Austin, a Port Ludlow democrat, said incorporation is inevitable.
“It’s going to happen one day, there’s no doubt,” said Austin, who will take office in January.
Studied in `90s
The subject of incorporation for this community 10 miles south of Port Townsend was studied in the late 1990s, Van Zonneveld said.
But many raised concerns that incorporation would be more expensive than remaining part of the county for Ludlow taxpayers.
Port Ludlow Associates LLC owns The Resort at Port Ludlow and other properties connected with the development.
The business is the land developer and builds homes in the 2,000-acre resort and residential community.
Originally a lumber mill and shipbuilding town during the 1800s and 1900s, Port Ludlow began to take shape as a master-planned development in 1968.
That’s when timber titan Pope & Talbot created a multiphase town plan.
Today, Port Ludlow sports a 300-slip marina and a 27-hole golf course in the community built around Port Ludlow Bay.
In place of the sawmill is the Inn at Port Ludlow, townhouses and condominiums.
Retirement and upscale homes are woven into the hillsides overlooking the bay, and are interspersed with forested green spaces and foot trails.
Community leaders such as Van Zonneveld and Loomis say if build-out occurs as expected in the next five years and Port Ludlow Associates entertains pulling out, it makes sense to at least study incorporation.