Posted on June 29, 2020
As the money to build a major seaport in Jasper County continues to trickle in, some local officials who are pushing for the project say they’re being forced into a game of economic development hardball: Complain about the lack of progress and other vital projects might not get funded.
“We have received veiled messages from multiple sources that a number of public works projects might be jeopardized,” said Tom Johnson, a Jasper County Councilman who wants to see the port built.
He declined to identify who sent the messages, but he said they’ve been delivered “with some attitude” and that the implication is clear: There will be consequences for rocking the boat.
The biggest of those consequences could be Exit 3 — a proposed interchange off Interstate 95 in Hardeeville that would open access to thousands of acres where new industry could locate, bringing up to 24,000 jobs and packing a $3 billion annual economic punch for a part of the state that has long suffered from low wages, underemployment and lack of opportunity.
“It opens up job possibilities for our region that are so much better than what we have today,” said Hardeeville Mayor Harry Williams.
The exit needs about $60 million from a combination of grant and loan funds from the State Infrastructure Bank — a powerful seven-member board of legislators and business leaders who control the purse strings for big transportation projects in South Carolina.
The SIB, which has shown support for the project in the past, is scheduled to vote on the funding next month.
Exit 3 and the industries that would follow also would benefit the Jasper Ocean Terminal, a $5 billion container terminal to be co-developed along the Savannah River by the state-run ports authorities in South Carolina and Georgia. State Sen. Tom Davis of Beaufort, one of the biggest proponents of the project, said it would have a bigger economic impact for the state than BMW, Michelin and Boeing combined.
But there’s been little progress toward construction, and the opening date has been pushed to at least 2035 as South Carolina and Georgia build other new terminals, including one in North Charleston named after S.C. Sen. Hugh Leatherman, a SIB board member.
Jasper officials have long complained about the slow progress. They’ve also drafted a lawsuit alleging the S.C. State Ports Authority failed to abide by a legislative mandate to develop the port “expeditiously.”
County officials voted to delay filing the complaint after they were assured in January that Exit 3 funding would be approved at the SIB’s March meeting, which was pushed to July by the COVID-19 pandemic.
A resolution approved by county council in March states that if the “Exit 3 assurances were false, misleading or inaccurate,” the lawsuit will be filed within 30 days.
“If that’s an empty promise on Exit 3, we would have no reason to assume anyone has any intention of doing anything beneficial for us,” Johnson said.
Johnson questions the South Carolina maritime agency’s commitment to the Jasper port in light of the sparse funding. The bi-state board that is shepherding the project this month committed $800,000 — mostly for environmental studies — for the coming fiscal year. That amount, split between South Carolina and Georgia, is the same as the previous budget and is just a portion of the $3 million the S.C. Legislature set aside last year for the project.
To date, only 18 percent of the work needed to complete the environmental permitting process for the port has been done. In the last decade, the two states have committed $18.5 million to the Jasper port. To put that in perspective, that’s less than the cost of two ship-to-shore cranes.
Jim Newsome, president and CEO of the South Carolina State Ports Authority, said his agency “is committed to deliver the terminal when it’s needed.”
With the first phase of Leatherman Terminal set to open in March and Georgia’s Hutchinson Island expansion to follow, both states will have enough waterfront capacity without Jasper for at least another 15 years.
“That terminal will be ready when the demand is there,” Newsome said, adding he’s not aware of any connection between the proposed Jasper port and Exit 3.
Davis, who has worked to get legislative funding for the port, said the two state maritime agencies and the Jasper Ocean Terminal board have failed to live up to their obligations as they continue to push the opening date further into the future. But he stopped short of connecting legal action over the Jasper port’s lack of progress to a quid pro quo on Exit 3.
“I have confidence the SIB will treat the Exit 3 application fairly and on its merits, irrespective of any legal squabble on the port,” Davis said.
Meanwhile, Hardeeville — population 7,278 — is caught in the middle. The Exit 3 project, named for its three-mile distance along I-95 from the Georgia border, “could transform an area that’s struggled economically for generations,” Williams, the city’s mayor, said.
Connecticut-based North Point Capital has finished the first of 10 industrial buildings it plans to construct in the RiverPort project. Provided
The city this month issued a certificate of occupancy for the first of 10 industrial buildings that Connecticut developer North Signal Capital plans to build in the district, called RiverPort. A second building will start construction this summer.
South Carolina expects to see a windfall from the industrial development, with the Legislature approving a bill that will let manufacturers and distribution firms claim a tax credit if they use the Port of Charleston for their exports and imports rather than Savannah’s rival port just across the river.
Williams calls the sprawling project — with portions devoted to industrial, commercial and residential space — “a corridor of pride for the entire state” and a needed funding source for schools and public services.
“We’re ready to rock and roll,” he said.
It’s a sentiment shared by supporters of the Jasper Ocean Terminal — one they feel hasn’t been taken seriously enough.
Source: postandcourier
