Proposed agreement could make Jasper Ocean Terminal a reality much sooner. What we know
The State Ports Authority agreed Tuesday to transfer its 50% ownership of the planned $5 billion Jasper Ocean Terminal to Jasper County, increasing the odds that the long-delayed economic development project will be built.
In the past week, as part of a debate over whether the state should borrow $550 million to bring more technology and rail service to the port in Charleston, state officials also have looked at what it would take to jumpstart construction of the Jasper Terminal.
The project, first announced in 2007, was touted as a way to bring thousands of new jobs and economic activity to Jasper County, one of the poorest in the state. But it has been delayed again and again, dogged by lawsuits and questions about the need for the project.
Led by Sen. Tom Davis, a Beaufort Republican, the state Senate’s plan is to transfer its half interest in the terminal to Jasper County. Georgia Ports Authority owns the other half. The transfer, Davis said, should result in earlier construction of the terminal, which had been pushed back to 2035.
An intergovernmental agreement between the States Ports Authority and Jasper County more than a decade ago said if a partner in the port development, such as the State Ports Authority, “is not meeting its obligations that will result in the port not being developed in an expeditious manner” then ownership could be transferred to Jasper County.
Davis said he planned to vote for issuing the bonds as long as the port and state didn’t forget about the joint proposal for a port near the mouth of the Savannah River.
“I thought as a result of this bill, you’re taking it until 2040, 2050 before they need the Jasper Port,” Davis told The Island Packet last week. “I saw this as an opportunity to cut the Gordian knot.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Jasper County Council has called a special meeting to discuss the terminal. The 4 p.m. meeting will be in executive session. Council Chair Barbara Clark did not immediately return a call or email Tuesday morning.
Councilman Marty Sauls confirmed Tuesday the State Ports Authority agreed to transfer its half of the ownership to Jasper County and County Council will accept it. He said the executive session is to receive advice from the county attorney since the agreement is a contractual matter.
With the agreement official a process will begin with Jasper County working closely with the private sector and the Georgia Ports Authority, who Sauls said the county already has a “great working relationship” with.
“The impact this will have on our economy, educational system, enhancements to our infrastructure, is transformational,” Sauls said, adding that it will enhance not only counties in the Lowcountry, but both South Carolina and Georgia as well. “It’s off the charts.”
He said the port is poised to be one of the largest, most highly technological advanced ports in the world and now that Jasper County has the opportunity to take ownership, it can work to formulate a plan that’s mutually beneficial to both states.
“We’re starting with a fresh slate to move forward,” he said. “It’s been pushed off and pushed back ... but now we are looking forward to a new joint venture.”
The Jasper terminal, about 1,500 acres, was planned as a solution to future overcrowding in the Charleston and Savannah terminals, with the two states sharing the costs equally. But as the port’s completion was delayed by a decade to 2035 because it wouldn’t be needed in South Carolina, State Port Authority officials previously said, Georgia began looking at other options.
GPA has discussed plans for a new terminal on Hutchinson Island just north of downtown Savannah and construction of a replacement for the Talmadge Bridge to allow bigger container ships into Georgia current port. If the transfer agreement is signed by the S.C. Ports Authority and Jasper County, Georgia would likely have to agree to ditch its new plans and refocus on the Jasper terminal if it were to make any headway.
Davis said Georgia has done its due diligence and he hopes the agreement “can remove an unwilling party from the equation and replace it with a willing party.”
He said the port would change the Corridor of Shame into the “Corridor of Opportunity” with the Jasper Port development, adding “you’ll see impoverish areas have a new day” because it will lead to economic growth such as private capital coming into the region “on steroids.”
Jasper County administrator Andrew Fulghum said Monday that county officials were “cautiously optimistic.”
“The terminal has the potential to be a huge economic driver for not just the county, but the region and state,” he said. “I’ve been working on this project, as many people have, over the years and it’s taken many different iterations.”
As with any new agreement, Fulghum said Jasper County’s next steps are to determine what is included in the transfer.
Fulghum, who has watched development boom in the county and region including many current projects, said this is a “huge opportunity” to also diversify the tax base for the region.
“We’re ready for (the growth), looking forward to it, and pleased it seems to be growing in a diverse way,” he said.
As the port stalled for years, developments in the areas nearby the port have been taking off.
Residential growth in both Jasper and Beaufort counties has thrived, with Bluffton and Hardeeville recognized among the fastest-growing municipalities in the state. That’s likely the result of more homes being built along U.S. 278 and Argent Boulevard corridors to Beaufort County, namely Sun City Hilton Head, Latitude Margaritaville, Hilton Head Lakes and Hearthstone Lakes.
On Monday, a $41.9-million project began to widen and improve a 4.2 mile stretch of U.S. 17 between Hardeeville and Savannah.
Plans for the $82.4 million Exit 3 interchange off I-95 in Hardeeville and the build-up of businesses in RiverPort Commerce Park, both in an Economic Opportunity Zone near the proposed port site, have made headway, and lawmakers boasted about them as “economic engines.”
About a year ago, Jasper County was also awarded $1.1 million in grants for a series of improvements, including widening the road and adding turn lanes, on a busy stretch of U.S. 278 in the Ridgeland area, which has grown tremendously in a brief time. The area is part of Grays Highway and is less than two miles from Exit 21 on I-95, through the intersection of Log Hall Road and Malphrus Road.
Neighboring Hampton County also had major development announcements last year in its Southern Carolina Industrial Campus, including a 1,000-acre plus Agricultural Technology Campus that state and federal officials said was one of the largest agricultural investments in the state’s history and the largest Economic Opportunity Zone investment in the country to date.
This story was originally published February 23, 2021 at 12:34 PM with the headline "Proposed agreement could make Jasper Ocean Terminal a reality much sooner. What we know."
