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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDISCUSSION Opportunity Zone Letters of Support UPDATED JEFFERSON COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS CONSENT AGENDA REQUEST TO: Board of County Commissioners FROM: Carolyn Gallaway,Clerk of the Board DATE: May 11,2026 SUBJECT: DISCUSSION and POTENTIAL ACTION re: (2)Opportunity Zone Letters of Support: 1)Port Townsend Tract; and 2)Brinnon/West End STATEMENT OF ISSUE: EDC Team Jefferson Director David Ballif is requested that the Commissioners consider approval of two letters of support for Opportunity Zone 2.0 nominations submitted through the Emerald Coast Opportunity Zone (ECOZ) Consortium. The proposed nominations include: 1) Census Tract 53031950603 in Port Townsend; and 2) Census Tract 53031950702 covering Brinnon and the West End. The letters support designation of these areas as Qualified Rural Opportunity Zones to help attract long-term private investment for healthcare, housing, childcare, infrastructure, commercial development, and rural economic development projects. ANALYSIS: The Port Townsend tract serves as the County's primary healthcare and service center and includes Jefferson Healthcare, workforce housing opportunities, childcare facilities, and other community-serving infrastructure. The Brinnon/West End tract includes rural and economically vulnerable communities with identified needs related to healthcare access, economic diversification, infrastructure, and climate resilience. FISCAL IMPACT: Potential long-term benefits may include increased private investment, expanded tax base,job creation, housing development, and infrastructure improvements within the designated tracts. RECOMMENDATION: Approve the two support letters for Opportunity Zones in Port Townsend and Brinnon/West End. REVIEWED BY: S 6/g Josh . _ eters, County Administrator Date CoNMssl Board of County Commissioners 49 #7 o° O1_ 1820 Jefferson Street 0 w p PO Box 1220 • Port Townsend, WA 98368 /s. - " Heather Dudley-Nollette,District 1 Heidi Eisenhour,District 2 Greg Brotherton,District 3 ifINv May 11,2026 Andrea Chartock Assistant Director,Office of Economic Development and Competitiveness Washington State Department of Commerce 1011 Plum Street SE PO Box 42525 Olympia, WA 98504 Re: Letter of Support—Opportunity Zone 2.0 Nomination,Census Tract 53031950702(Brinnon/West End) Dear Ms. Chartock, On behalf of the Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners, I write to offer the County's strongest possible support for the Emerald Coast Opportunity Zone(ECOZ)consortium's nomination of Census Tract 53031950702—covering Brinnon, Pleasant Harbor,the Dosewallips and Duckabush river corridors,the Hood Canal coastline, and the West End communities including the Hoh Tribe—for designation as a Qualified Rural Opportunity Zone under OZ 2.0. As the District 3 Commissioner who represents this geography,and as Chair of the Board, I want this designation to land. The County has separately submitted a letter in support of the Port Townsend tract;this letter addresses the rural tract specifically. This is the part of Jefferson County that the conventional economic development conversation most often overlooks,and it is the part where the Qualified Rural Opportunity Fund tool will do the most work. The tract is large,dispersed,and demographically vulnerable—federal data documents the tract's elevated poverty rate and median income well below 70 percent of area median. It has longer travel times to healthcare and other essential services,and a dependence on resource-based industries—timber, shellfish, recreation,and tourism—that are subject to genuine market and regulatory pressures. It also has the kind of natural assets,cultural heritage,and underdeveloped commercial potential that,with the right capital structure,can generate sustainable rural prosperity.OZ 2.0 designation is the single most important federal tool we have to bring patient private capital into a geography that the conventional capital markets pass over. The pipeline of investment-ready projects is real. The Pleasant Harbor Master Planned Resort,advanced by the Statesman Group with Hearing Examiner approval secured, is among the largest single private investments ever proposed on the North Olympic Peninsula—and one whose financing economics work substantially better with OZ-eligible capital. The Hoh Tribe is pursuing village relocation,climate adaptation,and economic development priorities on the West End that align with both the OZ tool and federal Indian Country development frameworks. Whitney Gardens Nursery,a six-decade specialty horticulture operation in Brinnon, is approaching ownership succession with investor interest. Rocky Brook Falls offers clean-energy generation potential. McKay's Crab& Shrimp and other working seafood businesses on the Pacific coast represent value-added processing and operating-business investment opportunities. Several private property owners in the Brinnon commercial zone—including longtime landowners working with EDC Team Jefferson on potential commercial and mixed-use development— have signaled interest in partnering on OZ-aligned projects. Wage Rural healthcare access is a persistent and growing concern in this geography. Residents in Brinnon,the Hood Canal corridor,and the West End face significant travel times to Jefferson Healthcare in Port Townsend,and the limited rural health infrastructure that exists is constrained by capital. The OZ 2.0 application's missing-community-services scoring category was written with exactly these geographies in mind. Investments in rural healthcare access points,telehealth-capable clinical infrastructure,and the workforce housing that lets clinical and care-economy staff serve rural areas would all benefit from designation.The County is committed to coordinating across the Board of County Commissioners, EDC Team Jefferson,the PUD,the hospital district,the Hoh Tribe,and Jefferson County DCD to put designation to work—including through targeted permit-streamlining,county-owned land contributions where appropriate,and the kind of anchor-tenancy commitments that make rural project economics pencil. The Brinnon and West End communities are ready. The community is unified in this request. We urge Commerce and the Governor's Office to grant the designation. Sincerely, Heather Dudley-Nollette, Dist. 1 Heidi Eisenhour, Dist. 2 Greg Brotherton, Dist. 3-Chair 2IPage ve0' ,ON e Board of County Commissioners 4 ¢� 0 o� 1820 Jefferson Street ti PO Box 1220 Port Townsend, WA 98368 / C'` Heather Dudley-Nollette,District 1 Heidi Eisenhour,District 2 Greg Brotherton,District 3 SIZING\ May 11,2026 Andrea Chartock Assistant Director,Office of Economic Development and Competitiveness Washington State Department of Commerce 1011 Plum Street SE PO Box 42525 Olympia, WA 98504 Re: Letter of Support—Opportunity Zone 2.0 Nomination, Census Tract 53031950603 (Port Townsend) Dear Ms. Chartock, On behalf of the Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners,I write to offer the County's strongest and most unqualified support for the Emerald Coast Opportunity Zone(ECOZ)consortium's nomination of Census Tract 53031950603 for designation as a Qualified Rural Opportunity Zone. Although this tract sits geographically within the City of Port Townsend, it functions as the urban service core for the entire county. The hospital that anchors healthcare for our 33,000 residents is in this tract. The childcare and early-learning facilities that working families across Jefferson County depend on are concentrated here.A critical share of our county-wide employment base—and a critical share of our housing supply—sits within these boundaries. What gets built or not built here over the next decade will shape what county government can deliver in every corner of Jefferson County,from Port Hadlock to Quilcene to Brinnon and the West End. Healthcare is the most consequential element of this case. Jefferson Healthcare—a public hospital district and one of the largest employers in the county—recently completed a$96 million Campus Modernization and Expansion Project. The new Castle View wing,which opened in August 2025,nearly doubled clinical space from approximately 30,000 to 56,000 square feet.Jefferson Healthcare is now the first critical access hospital in Washington State to operate a linear accelerator,allowing radiation oncology to be delivered locally rather than requiring patients to travel to Silverdale or Seattle multiple times per week.New service lines—neurology, pulmonology,dermatology,ENT,and expanded OBGYN—are projected to add 70 to 75 jobs over the next five years. The hospital earned the Washington State Hospital Association's Critical Access Hospital Achievement of Excellence gold-level award in 2025,placing it in the top 9 percent of U.S. hospitals with obstetric services and the top 5 percent in outpatient care. Jefferson Healthcare's full campus, the new Castle View wing,and the immediately adjacent properties—including a planned pharmacy and additional healthcare-adjacent investments—sit within Census Tract 53031950603. The County's interest in OZ designation is direct and substantial.Jefferson County is a federally designated Health Professional Shortage Area and Medically Underserved Area. We have the highest median age of any county in Washington,and our demographic trajectory—sustained growth in retirement-age population paired with decline in working-age population—makes building healthcare and care-economy capacity an Wage existential economic priority,not just a service priority. The hospital expansion is necessary but not sufficient.Clinicians and clinical staff need places to live.The early-learning workforce that serves the hospital's families needs facilities. The missing community services scoring category in the OZ 2.0 application is precisely calibrated to the kinds of investments this tract requires. The YMCA-led childcare facility planned on land donated by the school district,the workforce housing planned by New Visions Community on Jefferson Street,the senior living and assisted-living investments under discussion,and the integrated set of healthcare-adjacent commercial investments around the hospital campus would all benefit from the patient OZ capital that designation makes available. Beyond healthcare,the County maintains a deep stake in the housing,commercial,and infrastructure investments that the OZ designation would catalyze. Our county-wide service delivery—from public health to the Sheriffs Office to library services to community-based behavioral health—depends on a workforce that can afford to live and work in Jefferson County. The tract's housing capacity is the most significant near- term lever the county has to address that need. Investments here directly support service delivery in Port Hadlock,Quilcene, Brinnon, and the West End,because the institutional anchor of the county—the hospital,the courthouse,the central public health functions,and the community-based services that operate from Port Townsend—must be staffed by people who live within reasonable commuting distance. The Board of County Commissioners has been briefed by EDC Team Jefferson Executive Director on the OZ 2.0 program,the ECOZ consortium approach,and the specific projects in the pipeline within this tract. The County's commitment is institutional and durable. We will support the success of this nomination with project data,healthcare and demographic documentation, and any additional support required. We urge designation of Census Tract 53031950603 as a Qualified Rural Opportunity Zone. Sincerely, Heather Dudley-Nollette,Dist. 1 Heidi Eisenhour, Dist. 2 Greg Brotherton,Dist. 3-Chair 2 ' Page o oN� �sl Board of County Commissioners 49wS c° 02 1820 Jefferson Street 0 ti PO Box 1220 Port Townsend, WA 98368 qHeathers. Dudley-Nollette,District 1 Heidi Eisenhour,District 2 Greg Brotherton,District 3 1IJNv May 11,2026 The Honorable Governor Bob Ferguson Office of the Governor 416 14th Ave SW Olympia, WA 98504 Re: Letter of Support for the joint,collaborative Emerald Coast Opportunity Zone application—Census Tract 53031950603 (Port Townsend) Dear Governor Ferguson, On behalf of the Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners, I am writing to you today to voice our support for the joint Emerald Coast Opportunity Zone application that continues the historic collaboration between Tribal,city and county governments. On the Olympic Peninsula,our communities have many potential opportunities that could become not only attractive investment opportunities, but catalysts for innovative economic growth in the North Olympic Peninsula. The Emerald Coast Opportunity Zone application consists of five rural census tracts located in Jefferson and Clallam Counties. We are supportive of each of these five applications being forwarded by EDC Team Jefferson(EDCTJ)and the Clallam County Economic Development Council(EDC)in their respective capacities as the Associated Development Organizations(ADOs). The continued engagement,cooperation,and collective tone build on the nationwide marketing effort that our communities have pursued since 2018. Our community website,www.EmeraldFunds.org,generates substantial interest from major national investors. We have applied the lessons learned to target five ready- for-investment census tracts. It is our intention to catalyze sustainable economic growth that is aligned with the cultural and environmental values of the Peninsula. We enthusiastically support the following five census tracts to be selected as Opportunity Zones as part of the Emerald Coast Opportunity Zone 2.0: Rural Census Tract County Location Description 53031950603 Jefferson Port Townsend including Boatyard areas 53031950702 Jefferson West End of Jefferson and Hoh Tribal Lands& Brinnon 53009002400 Clallam West End of Clallam and Quileute Tribal Lands 53009000700 Clallam Port Angeles including shuttered paper mill site 53009000900 Clallam Downtown Port Angeles targeted for redevelopment While the original Emerald Coast Opportunity Zone footprint included 14 census tracts, extensive engagement with investors has enabled us to refine our proposal. The selected tracts represent locations where there is strong alignment between targeted and defined market interest and community priorities, ensuring that future investment supports locally driven economic outcomes. Wage Census Tract 53031950603, although geographically within the City of Port Townsend, functions as the urban service core of the entire county. Jefferson Healthcare—our public hospital district,the principal healthcare provider for our 33,000 residents,and one of the largest employers in the county—anchors the tract.Jefferson Healthcare recently completed a$96 million Campus Modernization and Expansion Project; the new Castle View clinical wing nearly doubled clinical space, and Jefferson Healthcare is now the first critical access hospital in Washington State to operate a linear accelerator. Healthcare-adjacent businesses, the workforce that staffs the hospital,county-wide childcare and early-learning facilities, and a critical share of the county's housing supply all sit within this tract. The County's interest in OZ designation here is institutional and durable.Jefferson County is a federally designated Health Professional Shortage Area and Medically Underserved Area,with the highest median age of any county in Washington. The clinical workforce that staffs Castle View,the early-learning workforce that supports those families,and the broader county-wide service workforce all face an acute housing- affordability crisis that the OZ 2.0 tool is well positioned to help address. The County is in the final adoption phase of our 2025-2045 Comprehensive Plan, with adoption targeted for June 30,2026 consistent with the Department of Commerce GMA Periodic Update schedule.Across this tract,the policy alignment between the County's planning framework and the OZ 2.0 program—particularly around housing,healthcare access, climate resilience,and capital facilities planning—is direct and substantial. The following County policies,plans,and strategies align directly with the Emerald Coast Opportunity Zone 2.0 application for this tract: • 2025-2045 Jefferson County Comprehensive Plan(final adoption targeted June 30,2026) • Climate Element of the Comprehensive Plan(per HB 1181) • Jefferson County/City of Port Townsend Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan • Joint Climate Action Committee(with City of Port Townsend) • Coordinated Water System Plan(CWSP)update • Jefferson Healthcare Strategic Plan(public hospital district) • Capital Facilities Plan Element • North Olympic Development Council Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy • Recompete Pilot Program implementation strategy Our communities have struggled economically as historic industries of fishing and forestry have declined and we have experienced retirees choosing our area for second homes or short-term rentals. Continuation of this investment program is critical for the communities within the Emerald Coast Opportunity Zone to reach their near-term potential. Sincerely, Greg Brotherton Chair,Board of County Commissioners District 3 Jefferson County 2IPage p� CoMitt,s,sj. Board of County Commissioners k-cv e.? 1820 Jefferson Street 0 4 PO Box 1220 Port Townsend, WA 98368 ql0� Heather Dudley-Nollette,District 1 Heidi Eisenhour,District 2 Greg Brotherton,District 3 SflING'S May 11,2026 The Honorable Governor Bob Ferguson Office of the Governor 416 14th Ave SW Olympia, WA 98504 Re: Letter of Support for the joint,collaborative Emerald Coast Opportunity Zone application—Census Tract 53031950702 (Brinnon/West End) Dear Governor Ferguson, On behalf of the Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners, I am writing to you today to voice our support for the joint Emerald Coast Opportunity Zone application that continues the historic collaboration between Tribal,city and county governments. On the Olympic Peninsula,our communities have many potential opportunities that could become not only attractive investment opportunities, but catalysts for innovative economic growth in the North Olympic Peninsula. The Emerald Coast Opportunity Zone application consists of five rural census tracts located in Jefferson and Clallam Counties. We are supportive of each of these five applications being forwarded by EDC Team Jefferson(EDCTJ)and the Clallam County Economic Development Corporation(EDC) in their respective capacities as the Associated Development Organizations(ADOs). The continued engagement,cooperation,and collective tone build on the nationwide marketing effort that our communities have pursued since 2018. Our community website,www.EmeraldFunds.org,generates substantial interest from major national investors. We have applied the lessons learned to target five ready- for-investment census tracts. It is our intention to catalyze sustainable economic growth that is aligned with the cultural and environmental values of the Peninsula. We enthusiastically support the following five census tracts to be selected as Opportunity Zones as part of the Emerald Coast Opportunity Zone 2.0: Rural Census Tract County Location Description 53031950603 Jefferson Port Townsend including Boatyard areas 53031950702 Jefferson West End of Jefferson and Hoh Tribal Lands& Brinnon 53009002400 Clallam West End of Clallam and Quileute Tribal Lands 53009000700 Clallam Port Angeles including shuttered paper mill site 53009000900 Clallam Downtown Port Angeles targeted for redevelopment While the original Emerald Coast Opportunity Zone footprint included 14 census tracts,extensive engagement with investors has enabled us to refine our proposal.The selected tracts represent locations where there is strong alignment between targeted and defined market interest and community priorities, ensuring that future investment supports locally driven economic outcomes. 1lPage Census Tract 53031950702—covering Brinnon, Pleasant Harbor,the Dosewallips and Duckabush river corridors,the Hood Canal coastline,and the West End communities including Hoh Tribal Lands—is the rural geography of Jefferson County. As the District 3 Commissioner who represents this area,and as Chair of the Board,I want this designation to land. This is the part of Jefferson County that the conventional economic development conversation most often overlooks,and it is the part where the Qualified Rural Opportunity Fund tool will do the most work. Federal data underlying the tract's eligibility shows poverty above 20 percent and area median income at roughly 62 percent—well below the OZ 2.0 threshold and well below the levels at which conventional capital alone can deliver scaled investment. The pipeline of investment-ready projects is real. The Pleasant Harbor Master Planned Resort,advanced by the Statesman Group with Hearing Examiner approval secured, is among the largest single private investments ever proposed on Hood Canal. The Hoh Tribe is pursuing village relocation, climate adaptation, and economic development priorities on the West End that align with both the OZ tool and federal Indian Country development frameworks. Rocky Brook Falls offers clean-energy potential. Across these projects, the County's planning framework—particularly the Comprehensive Plan in final adoption,the HB 1181 Climate Element,the 2024 Community Wildfire Protection Plan, and the climate vulnerability and sea level rise studies that document this tract's exposure—provides the policy foundation for OZ-eligible private investment to land effectively. The following County policies,plans,and strategies align directly with the Emerald Coast Opportunity Zone 2.0 application for this tract: • 2025-2045 Jefferson County Comprehensive Plan(final adoption targeted June 30,2026) • Climate Element of the Comprehensive Plan(per HB 1181) • 2024 Community Wildfire Protection Plan(CWPP) • Jefferson County Climate Vulnerability Assessment • Jefferson County Sea Level Rise Study(2023) • Climate Impacts Summary(2024) • Coordinated Water System Plan(CWSP)update • Critical Areas Ordinance(in update) • North Olympic Development Council Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy • Recompete Pilot Program implementation strategy Our communities have struggled economically as historic industries of fishing and forestry have declined and we have experienced retirees choosing our area for second homes or short-term rentals. Continuation of this investment program is critical for the communities within the Emerald Coast Opportunity Zone to reach their near-term potential. Sincerely, Greg Brotherton Chair, Board of County Commissioners District 3 Commissioner Jefferson County Wage