PORT HADLOCK – The Jefferson County commissioners and Planning Commission took their first look this week at 12 proposed amendments to the county’s comprehensive plan for the year – including a proposal for a 252-acre resort near Brinnon.
“We’re here to present a development that can be better than no action at all,” said James Mazak, director of planning for new communities for Statesman Group, which has proposed a master planned resort in Pleasant Harbor, south of Brinnon.
The Pleasant Harbor Marina and Golf Resort would consist of a marina with 290 slips, a planned maritime village with about 180 units and a 10,000-square-foot new commercial village replacing current facilities, as well as an 18-hole golf course with conference, food service and meeting capabilities and approximately 1,090 residential units intended primarily for resort use.
Mazak was one of several people who spoke before the three county commissioners and seven of the nine county planning commissioners – as well as about 20 people in the audience – at the Washington State University Learning Center in Port Hadlock.
Mazak highlighted environmentally protective aspects of the resort planned by the Alberta, Canada-based company that has resorts in Arizona and Canada.
He said that all precipitation that falls on the resort, except for 1 percent, would be used, treated and recharged to the aquifer.
Native plants would be planted that would be able to live without increased watering.
The resort would create jobs in the Brinnon area, Mazak said.
The resort would include affordable housing for employees, and any excess units would be available for the general public.
Bud Schindler, chairman of the Planning Commission, said the plans were well-received when they were presented to about 80 people at a meeting at the Brinnon Community Center recently.
County Commissioner John Austin, D-Port Ludlow, whose district includes the proposed resort site, said, “There are some obvious potential benefits to the community.
“It’s a huge increase of income to the county and possibly of employment down there.”
The Pleasant Harbor development was the largest of nine proposals for specific sites.
The Planning Commission will study the proposed amendments and make recommendations to the three Jefferson County commissioners, who will then hold public hearings and make their decisions by the second meeting in December.
