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HomeMy WebLinkAbout086Pleasant Harbor Fina, SE S Response to Fiscal Comments PLEASANT HARBOR FINAL SEIS Response to Fiscal Comments A number of fiscal-related comments were raised on the Draft SEIS regarding the project's potential impact to the community in relation to taxes generated v. burdens, as well as potentialcosts to the community resulting from low wage jobs. Below are examples of representative comments: Letter 38,Comment 24- 'Sfate taxes collected mostly go to Olympia and County seat (pori Townsend). These entities havefree reign asto where and how it's spent, and citizens of Brinnon bear brunt of traffic and safety. Levies aftached to our property taxes will not be available until Phase 4 and FullBuild Out are achieved" The Pleasant HarborResort (PHR)is a fourphased development; each phase representing a construction cycle estimated at thirty (30) months. State taxes collected will be based on mill- rate assessmentsidentified by category and use. PHR does nol control where collected tax revenue is expressed to the Public or how the government or municipality elects to spend the taxes collected. Nevertheless, the consequence of taxes attaching to PHR land, expect that employment and structures will have a positive and not negative impact to the surroundingareasasaresult of the Developer'screation of the Resort including, but not limited to, direct, indirect and induced employment plus property value increases since there will be new prospective purchasers. PHR is designed to control traffic and safety within itsboundaries. While PHRwill bring more traffic to the area, and economic benefits to the surrounding areas, there is no inequitable burden created vs. the taxes that will be generated. ln summary form: o The surrounding areas should not be negatively impacted by additionaldirect property laxes collected as a result of the phased development. o The surrounding areas should not be negatively impacted by additional direct income and employment taxes collected as a resull of the employment center at PHR. o The surroundingareas should not be negatively impacted by additionaltraffic or safety concerns; rather this area is expected to benefil from additional consumer spending. o The surrounding areas are expected to benefit from PHR via increased property values, which in turn equates to improved property taxes for Jefferson County. Pleasant Harbor Final SEIS 1 Letter 7, Comment 6- "Local government and all county taxpayers will experience high taxes/fewer services" "Developer does not pay suficient taxes to cover costs of infrastructure and publicservices needed by the resort itself resort members, and resort employees" This comment is misguided and does not represent a true reflection of the value and services the developer and PHRwil! bring to the area. Again, by the developerimproving and adding amenities to the property, taxes will be colbcted under the County Mill.Rate Assessment of property values. As a resuh, tax revenues relating to the improvements create value improvements. Costs for infrastructure and services are paid for and/or provided for and/or made possible because of the developer and creation of PHR. The following items (which list is not all inclusive) highlights some of the key infrastructure and services to be provided by the developer through the creation of PMR: o lnfra-structure costs are paid by the developer idd1t Jefferson County Staff Time spent assessing the approvalprocess plus permitting. o The upgrading of Pleasant Harbor Marina structures, indudingthe docks,amenity areas, sewer systems, and restaurant add value, services and safety to the land and area. o The re-alignment of Black Point Road wlfch was not properly designed and constructed originally (traffic safety enhancement). o The additional width of constructing Black Point Road tothe entrance to Pleasant Harbor Resort (traffic safety enhancement). o The Acceleration and Deceleration Lanes that are required by the WDOTadjoining Black Point Roadand Highway 101(traffic safety enhancement). o The re-constructing of the service road to the WDFW Boat Launch since this road does not presently comply with traffic queuing during busy periods (traffic safety enhancement). o The creation of the PHR Utility District will act as a separate entity that does not impact the surrounding community. * Thit Utilit.t, Dislrictpa.l,.s.fbr thenrunagententancl stoffingofthell/aste Water TreatnentPlant. This includes the monitoring a.t u,ell as the adnrinistration costs. *This Utilin, Districtpavs.for thePUD extendinglret't,tmi,vsion lines andnev.'transfornters.frn' ener&) to the ,site, Front the ,sile the cost to eilergize lhe "^tru<'lure,s is to lhe acc:outtl oJ'the det eloper. *This Utilitv Distt'ict u,ill monitor the inryuct that PHR has on the Aquifer ond the ttaters of Pleosant Harbor. o Security Services and Administration for operations is provided by PHR. o The Fire Department p rov id e s monitoring with specific upgraded equipment provided by PHR as well as land provided for future upgraded working facilities. Pleasant Harbor Frnal SEIS 2 Letter SComment 5-'What costswill be put to the areaandstate citizens?Forinstance, road repair from additional traffic the resort will bring. Utility costs. Medical facilities. Taxation." PHR will pay their pro-rata share of taxes for the facilities that are provided through the State. The State does not provide Medical Services for the area. As a result, the developer is planning aMedi-Centerin Phase 1of the MaritimeVillage which will be available to the surrounding areas. See Letter 7 Comment 6 re: addressing Utility Costs. Letter 9, Comment 17-"reveal the true impacts on the localeconomy from the proposed MPR during construction and operation" This job creation provides employment for young people who are primarily unemployed or under employed and presently receiving social assislance. Many entry Level positions as well as Operational and Administrational positions will be provided reducing the public financialburden in the area. The construction improvements completed to date have been through local orWashington State qualified general and trade contractors. The opening of the new Restaurant and Lounge has resuhed in the direct employmenl of 12 individuals and market value wages. Letter 9,Comment 18 -"A study of fiscaland economic impacts of destination resort in Oregon concluded that, after subtracting the costs for services from the gross property and room tax revenue generated by the study resort, only a modest net surplus remained. When cost of capitalfacilities including roads, schools,fire and police stations,and others isalsoaccounted for, the net cost to localtaxpayers is substantialeven after accounting for all known payments the resort would be required to make" PHR is uniquely situated, from a location and market perspective, as demonstrated in the Market Analysis recently performed by Hospitality Advisors Group. As such, il is not p os s ib le to compare an Oregon resort to PHR from a tax perspective or a market perspective. Furthermore, the PHR will provide a benefit to the Fire Department, Roads, Security (police) as noted in Letter 7 Comment 6. The Brinnon School Distrbt and the developer reached an agreement where PHR would contribute a capital investment to Brinnon Schoolbased on net earnings. Pleasant Harbor Final SEIS 3 PHR identified the thresholds of the project employees in meeting the requirement for wages paid. This was quoted by the Board of County Commissioners for averages at AMI 80% of Brinnon wages, which has been exceeded, and will continue to be exceeded as the resort is developed. LetterT, Commenti - "Developer to identify frue costs of infrastructure and public services during and after construction and anange to pay fhose cosfg above what ispaid in taxes,to local and county government." Because the PHR development was so well planned, the heavy movementof materials such as concrete and removal or adding additional gravels, retaining wall stone, compacted fills, organic dirt and peat is possible to generate these materials on-site rather than off-site. Approximately lmillbn cubbyards will be relocated on-site withouthenecessity to truckoffsite, The County or the State have not provided, to the developer, any financial incentives or tax benefits which are commonly used to stimubte employment in high unemployment targeted areas, such as south-central Jefferson County. LetterT, Comment 1O- 'Taxpayers will subsidize road improvement and repair for heavy equipment. Developer to prepare analysis of true costs of road improvement and repair and make provisions to payfor those seruicesfo state and localgovernment entities". Addressed in Letter 7 Comment 6 Letter 7, Commentl - "lt [resort] may raise utility rates for South County- Addressed in Letter 7 Comment 6 LetterT, Comment3T - "Developer to present agreement with PUDfor public review, including possibility of rate rncreases for all rate payers. The PUD of Mason County has provided to PHR an estimate for upgrading the Transmission Lines and Transformers to the site,which provides capacity for future groMh of South-Central Jefferson County. This information is avaihble from PUDof Mason County at their discretion. LetterT, CommentS "prepare a repoft of the services used by employees with wages below the Brinnon AMI and an estimate of the cost of those services. Developer to pay for cosfs of servlces to these employees provided by taxfunded entities. " The PH R is employing both directly and indirectly approximately 2,000iobs d u ring the approvals, development, construction, and operations stages. See report from Wright Johnson LLC. LetterS[ Comment 5 The promi*d jobs would likely pay poorly, and not enable workers to be financially independent. We would end up supporting them through our community seruices. This commentis simplyuntrueand nol.supported by the studies performed. Entry Level Jobs lead to opportunities to learn and grow and serve to reduce the Public FinancialBurden. Pleasant Harbor Frnal SEIS 4 At PHR, entry level employees will receive numerous training and certifications such as Food- Handling, EMS, Management Training, which will serve them and the community well moving forward. The SEIS estimated that 1,398 out of 1 ,74O construction jobs will exceed the area's average median income. For immediate employment in the operations 56 out of 279 will be above the 80% of AMl. This ralio changes, however, following the educational and accreditation of operationalstaff asthey mature in their positions- What m u s t be taken into consideration is PHR provides constructed housing for 104 operations staffing as well as 28 administrative housing on-site in order to off-set the lack of local accommodation. Adding the accommodation factor balances the AMI numbers so that 188 out of 279will be above the 80% AMlfor the area duringthe initialemploymentcycles. Letler 40, Comment 6- Most of the jobs will be below family wage so there will be a high rate of povefty. Most of the jobs are seasonal, minimum wage, and part time. Could leave more people added to the community in poverty, on Medicaid, and straining limited localresources. Mosf construction jobs will go with the large company hired to build resort. Might not hire locally. This statement is also untrue and not supported by the studies performed- Many of our direct hire employees will be enrolled on PHR's corporate benefit program similar to Statesman Resorts other communities in Phoenix/Scottsdale Arizona. Once PHR is completed, it should be a major attraction to people from Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, and Northern California. As such, the business directed to the area will appeal to the clean enterprse of tourism for the Sfate of Washington. PHR is certainlydestined to be an attraction to environmentalists from around the globe who can appreciate the ingenuity of minimizing the carbon footprint of developing a spectacular destination resort. As mentioned in our response to Letter 9, Comment 17, PHR strives to hire locally, where and when qualified. ln order to adequately respond to these comments in the Final SEIS, we would like to have the following issues addressed: ldentify/quantify the tax revenue that could be generated by the operation and construction of the resort, employees and visitors. See the report from Wright Johnson, LIC with attachment of the Market Feasibility Study performed by Hospitality Advisors Group. 5 Pleasant Harbor Frnat SEIS ldentify how will this tax revenue be distributed locally (i.e. what isJeffersonCounty's capture rate). See the report from Wright Johnson, LLC a ldentify the tax burden (cost) that the resort, its employees and visitors will result in, in terms of additional population placing demands on public infrastructure and public services (i.e. will the project cost more than the tax revenue it brings in?). See response to Letters as noted above. a ldentify the impact of jobs that are at or below 80 percent of the AMI in terms of demand for community/publicservicesthat could begenerated. (Referto Letter 7, Comment 8)- See the report from Wright Johnson, LLC. SUMMARY The bulk of the comments appear to be focused around 3 main premises; - There is a concern that the bulk of jobs we will create are low paying jobs, and that these workers will put pressure on the public and socia! support services. . Taxes that are collected by the Resort are directed outside of the area, while the burden of the additional traffic is borne by the Brinnon community. . The net revenue generated from taxes collected from the Resort will not directly cover the burdens (cost) to the town of Brinnon. Responses: . lt is unfair to suggestthat the bulk of jobs createdwill fall below 80%of theAMlwithout taking into consideration the benefits offered by PHR, in the form of Staff Housing and Meals. These jobs however, will be picked up primarily by young people, and unemployed or under-employed residents (many of whom are currently receiving social support) who currently live in the area. As such, these jobs will only serve to reduce the public financial burden, and will not add additional stress upon the social support system. Over time, PHMRwill also be able to offer higher paying jobs as employees become experienced and improve their positions. . The bulk of our growing staff will receive numerous training and certification opportunities, which will serve them & the community well moving forward. Programs such as Food Handling, EMS, and Management training will create a larger pool of trained and qualified workforce within the Brinnon area.. Most of our employees will be on our benefits program, and thus further reduce the a a 6 Pleasant Harbor Final SEIS financial burden placed upon the local socialseruices. . PHMRobviously has no control overthe flow of tax dollars out of the localcommunity. Once the Resort is able to begin drawing additional tourists to the area, it will be up to the local Councilors etc., to appeal for a larger piece of the growing pie from the State. As much of the business directed to PHtt/Rcomes from Washington, Oregon & Canada, this growing portion of tax dollars will be all new revenue. . PHR is charged with the responsibility of monitoring the Aquifer and Pleasant Harbor for potential pollution concerns on behalf of the State. . PHR is also paying for the upgraded Transmission with new Transformers which service our property and also provide a benefit to the PUD. - PHR is also improving the road system at our cost for Black Point Road to the entrance of the ResorL tre WDFW access road to the Boat Launch is being rebuilt so it offers safe ingress and egress; the Acceleration and Deceleration lanes on Highway 101 are constructed for safetyturns;and realigning a poorroad intersection at Black Point road and Highway 101 is being rebuilt at the resorts costs. . PHR is also providing a Medi-Center that will benefit the Community. . PHMRlreconsidered adding a small "ResortFee" to our pricing (e.g. 1% on all Lodging & Short-Term tt/oorage), which we can then direct to local needs. With collaboration from the Brinnon community, it may make senseto consider the option, such as: o Funding aworkplacetraining program in Brinnon,for residentsto improve their job skills. . The revenue generated far exceeds the tax dollars collected directly from the resort. As guests stream into PHMR, they will also explore other attractions in the area, and distribute their spending towards other local businesses. . All businesses require a captive audience, and attracting these customers is one of the largest expenses that a businesswill face. Theadditional gueststhat PHMRbrings to the community will provide localbusinesses (aswell as other organizations that may have interest in moving to Brinnon)to start-upor expand. PHMR is bearing the brunt of the coststo get this first major project under way, but the benefits will be reaped by many other businesses, and the community at large. 7 Pleasant Harbor Final SEIS