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HomeMy WebLinkAboutGlen Cove Infrastructure Feasibility and Design $250,000 Jefferson County, Washington Public Infrastructure Fund Project Application Return all Application Materials in Microsoft WORD/EXCEL to: carolyn@co.jefferson.wa.us Date: 11/6/2023 Project Title: Glen Cove Infrastructure Feasibility and Design Amount requested from PIF: $250,000 Percent as Grant: 100% Percent as Loan: Applicant: Jefferson County Contact: Greg Brotherton Address: PO Box 1220 City, State, Zip: Port Townsend, WA 98368 Phone: 360-385-9101 Fax: E-mail: gbrotherton@co.jefferson.wa.us Responsible Official: Greg Brotherton Signature: 1. Briefly describe your project. When did you start work on it? Who is involved? Work with private, and public stakeholders to do feasibility and design on infrastructure including roads, fiber, stormwater, electrical and sanitary sewer in the Glen Cove area and in parallel with the Jefferson County and City of Port Townsend 2025 Periodic Updates to their respective Comprehensive Plans. This work has been decades in the making and is listed in the Land Use Action Plan of the current 2018 Jefferson County Comprehensive Plan on page 176, Exhibit 1-24: “Prioritize Glen Cove and Irondale/Port Hadlock Urban Growth Area (UGA) as priority economic development areas.” Both the county and the city are actively working on developing the appropriate planning capacity to begin this long range planning for infrastructure to fuel economic development, including applying for funding from various sources: RECOMPETE grant from the United States Economic Development Authority (EDA), the WA State Department of Commerce Connecting Housing to Infrastructure Program (CHIP) program, and planning grants from Department of Commerce for periodic update. 2. How does the project satisfy, in whole or in part, the jurisdiction’s economic development strategy? As well as being the economic development strategy regarding the Land Use Action Plan as previously cited, it is listed in the 2018 Jefferson County Comp Plan Chapter 7 Economic Development, under Policy ED-P-4.4: “Continue to work with the City of Port Townsend, Port of Port Townsend, PUD, economic stakeholders and economic development agencies regarding capital facilities and land use in the Glen Cove Industrial District.” Facilitation of the key stakeholders regarding the development of Glen Cove Industrial Area is identified in the 2024-2028 Strategic Plan for Jefferson County as Objective 1 under Economic Vitality. 3. Is this project a documented county-wide priority? If so, where does it rank? As listed above, it is a documented county-wide priority, but it does not appear to be ranked. It is worth noting, that this project will also enable some of the new capacity of PIF funding to develop workforce housing in that as a possible ancillary outcome, under-developed rural residential land that currently can have one house per 5 acres might be able to be up-zoned to higher density housing, creating a new development opportunity for multi-family workforce housing without the pushback that established single-family neighborhoods offer. Our Associate Development Organization (ADO), and others have identified the dearth of workforce housing as one the biggest impediments to economic development. 4. Summarize efforts taken to date regarding the project in terms of specific steps/studies and dates of action, where appropriate. While initial stakeholder conversations have occurred and grant monies applied for, this work would be working on feasibility and design. No formal planning on this has occurred for over a decade. a. Is the project part of a plan (capital facilities, growth management, business development, etc.)? As listed above, going through feasibility, including robust public outreach, and design on the infrastructure in Glen Cove will support the 2018 Comprehensive Plan in the Land Use Action Items and in policy ED-P-4.4 as well, among others such as the Economic Development Action Plan Action Plan, exhibit 7-10: “Develop a Long-term strategy for the Glen Cove Light Industrial Area addressing a diversity of businesses, zoning designations, and intensification of uses, in collaboration with the City of Port Townsend, Port of Port Townsend, and economic development stakeholders and agencies.” b.What engineering reports and feasibility studies have been prepared, and when? This application represents a request for engineering reports and a feasibility study for this project. The Glen Cove/Tri-Area Special Study from the 1990’s and early 2000’s, which included an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), is the foundational building block for this analysis. c. Summarize efforts you’ve taken to date regarding the project in terms of: 1. Securing funding for this project from local, state or federal programs or foundations. Jefferson County has been awarded $350,000 by the Department of Commerce to develop our 2025 Periodic Update of the Comprehensive Plan. Planning and potential development of infrastructure was one of the keystone projects in the North Olympic Peninsula’s multi-stakeholder RECOMPETE Grant application to the EDA. Jefferson County has applied for a Connecting Housing to Infrastructure Program (CHIP) grant in partnership with the city of Port Townsend to enable urban services (i.e., sewer) to extend into the Glen Cove area. 2. Specify sources, including local match and dollar amounts. If there are conditions attached to any of these secured funding sources, please specify. The only money awarded, to complete the Comp Plan Periodic Update, will complement, but remain separate from these funds. The design and feasibility outputs will be integrated into the Comprehensive Plans, and likely contribute to a Glen Cove Subarea Plan. Other funds have not been awarded, and this planning work needs to happen before to applying for most infrastructure funding opportunities. d. Are there other efforts you have made that are unique to this project? We have had one ad hoc meeting with many property owners in Glen Cove and followed up with a survey. Many are interested in the development of area infrastructure. Some are opposed. Several of the growing businesses surveyed indicated that with additional growth capacity at their existing properties in Glen Cove they would add many living wage jobs. 5. What are the anticipated outcomes of this project in terms of the criteria identified below? Quantify information where possible. a. How will this project improve local infrastructure capacity? This feasibility and design work are critical to the long-delayed work developing a robust Industrial Zone supported by infrastructure in Glen Cove. Additively, the work described here should create a new zoning matrix that – even in the absence of new infrastructure itself – facilitates economic development. b. How many businesses do you plan on serving with this project? There are 153 parcels in the current Glen Cove Industrial Area totaling 213 acres. About half those parcels are vacant. Others house medium-sized businesses – or even multiple businesses. The potential impacts, aside from the public/private development of workforce housing is in the hundreds of businesses. c. How many full-time, permanent jobs will this project create or retain? 1. Retain: 2. Create in 1-3 years: 3. Create in 3-5 years: 125 d. What is the size of the population that will benefit by these infrastructure improvements? This is transformative work for the entire county, with the potential for 500 new units of housing, significant increase to the asset portfolio of those owning in Glen Cove, the retention of businesses that struggle to grow in the constrained zoning matrix in Glen Cove, incubation of new businesses and the recruitment of new industrial actors. As new technologies develop - such as cross-laminate timber, hydrogen electrolysis, and electrification - we can be poised to receive these new environmentally sustainable and largely low-impact industrial uses that we cannot accommodate anywhere in Jefferson County, currently. 6. How many months will the work on this project take to complete? This will be aligned with the Jefferson County Comp Plan Update, so should take about 18 months. 7. Are there other factors significant to this project that we should be aware of, such as health and safety, emergency declaration, “bird in hand” efforts, volunteer efforts, etc.? The timeliness of this project so it can be nested within the City and County Comp Plan Updates cannot be overstated. Very simply, if not now, then we need to look out another decade to address the under-developed nature of Glen Cove. The Jefferson County Department of Community Development has existing contracts with consultants able to accomplish this work in a timely fashion. This feasibility and design project are ready to go with appropriate capacity in place to accomplish it within the parameters of the Period Updates of the city and county Comp Plans.