PORT HADLOCK – The Jefferson County Planning Commission recommended that the three county commissioners approve a $300 million destination resort south of Brinnon.
The planning commissioners approved the zoning for the proposed 256-acre Black Point – which includes 890 hotel and residential units, a 240-slip marina, a 16,000-square-foot marina village and an 18-hole golf course – in a 7-2 vote.
But the planning commissioners added some conditions, including that the developers – Canada-based Statesman Group of Companies Ltd., and Black Point Properties LLC – must consult with native tribes before beginning construction.
“With all the experience Clallam and Jefferson counties have had the past couple years, Statesman would have to be, frankly, insane not to consult with the tribes,” said Planning Commission Chairman Peter Downey.
He alluded to projects that have been delayed or stalled because of discoveries of native remains and artifacts in Port Angeles and Beckett Point.
The county commissioners are scheduled to make a decision about zoning Black Point to allow for the resort by Dec. 10.
They are expected to conduct a public hearing before making their decision.
At the conclusion of Wednesday’s meeting, the planning commissioners had barely begun deliberating their second agenda item, the draft critical areas ordinance, before they ran out of time and ended the meeting.
The purpose of the proposed critical areas ordinance is to protect aquifer recharge areas, frequently flooded areas, geologically hazardous areas, fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas and wetlands.
Other conditions recommended by the Planning Commission for the proposed Brinnon resort included:
Planning commissioners Downey, Bill Miller, Henry Werch, Patricia Farmer, Edel Sokol, Bud Schindler and Mike Whittaker voted to recommend approval of the resort.
Ashley Bullitt and J.D. Gallant voted to recommend denial of the proposal.
“It’s a 20th-century plan. It’s not a 21st-century plan,” Bullitt said.
She’s worried about added carbon emissions from tourists driving to the resort and additional traffic plugging up U.S. Highway 101 as a result of the resort.
Bullitt said that the service jobs the resort would create would not provide the economic stimulation that many are counting on.
“I do not see this as a potential economic boom for south Jefferson County,” Bullitt said.
Downey, although he voted to recommend approval of the resort, said he does have concerns about it.
“The main issues to me are around water supply and water treatment,” Downey said.
But he added that at the stage the project is in – a simple zoning change – the questions he has are adequately addressed in the draft environmental impact statement.
He said that more detailed and rigorous analysis must be done at the project level of planning to ensure that adverse environmental effects and potential water issues are mitigated.
Schindler said the resort will be built in phases, which will insure that components of the project go as planned.
“If things aren’t working as they proposed, they will stop working until it is working properly,” Schindler said.
The resort developer would go to a hearings examiner to apply for permits.
The planning commissioners were charged with taking a “10,000-foot look” at the project at the current level, instead of looking at the details of the project, which will come later, Downey said.
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