Project Benefits
Public access to the only un-bridged estuary in service area
Directly adjacent to rapidly urbanizing community
Half of Jefferson County’s population located within 5 mile radius
Notes:
The last bullet is probably the most telling - the Tri Area is the second most populous area in Jefferson County and has both platted and built densities that rival any place inside Port Townsend’s incorporated boundaries.
The property is immediately below the area currently under consideration for UGA Designation, and in the middle of an area pressing for Incorporation to allow self-determination and control of its future. And in what must be an enormous irony - right in the middle of this urbanization is a nearly undisturbed creek corridor. This area has not been built yet because of the need for sewers, But one of the likely outcomes of the pressure to urbanize this area and the amendments to the County’s GMA Comp Plan will be community sewers, making the property along the creek vastly more attractive as building sites.
This explains the adopted policy that directs the County to buy lands like this is as soon as they become available - the area is likely to become far more buildable - and far more expensive - once sewers are installed or if a UGA is adopted in the Tri Area.