08-R337
2008 -- S 3133
Enacted 06/19/08
S E N A T E R E S O L U T I O N
REITERATING SUPPORT
FOR THE EFFORTS OF THE USS SARATOGA MUSEUM FOUNDATION TO DEVELOP A WORKFORCE
DEVELOPMENT CENTER, FAMILY ATTRACTION AND MUSEUM AT DAVISVILLE
Introduced By: Senators
Lenihan, Ruggerio, Sosnowski, Sheehan, and Raptakis
Date Introduced: June 19,
2008
WHEREAS,
The Senate recognizes these finding, each with equal priority and numbered
for
reference only, and therefore, declares that:
(1)
The State is experiencing a budget crisis, and it essential to identify and
support new
economic
engines that will create jobs and generate new sources of tax revenue;
(2)
USS Saratoga Museum Foundation, Inc. has agreed to invest substantial private
funds
in
the conversion of an aircraft carrier into a workforce development and
educational center,
family
attraction, disaster relief asset, museum and memorial at the former
Quonset/Davisville
naval
complex;
(3)
Independent studies by national firms have concluded that the Saratoga project
can be
successfully
funded and developed. It can become a self-sufficient economic engine, creating
jobs
and
generating other major economic, educational and cultural impacts in our
communities, our
State
and the region;
(4)
This project is expected to attract as many as 400,000 visitors annually, many
of
whom
would not otherwise come to the state. Such an additional attraction in the
West Bay/South
County
area would also provide additional customers for other Rhode Island
attractions, hotels
and
restaurants on a year-round basis. These visitors are projected to generate
more than $28
million
in annual economic impact;
(5)
There continues to be a chronic state of unemployment and underemployment in
the
State.
The USS Saratoga Project will help alleviate this situation by generating
significant job
opportunities.
Full development will generate an estimated 121 direct person-years of
construction
employment and a total one-time 319 person-years of employment during
construction.
Once completed, it is expected that operation of the Project will create more
than 80
direct
jobs and more than 500 total jobs. This means a range of Rhode Island residents
with
various
levels of skills and prior experience will have opportunities for permanent and
part-time
jobs;
(6)
The Project will also include a major school-to-career educational element,
covering
marine
trades and a number of other technical disciplines. All the major tooling is in
place:
machine
shop and welding facilities; woodworking shop; fiberglass and composite
materials
workshop;
electrical, electronics and communications shop; and hydraulics and pump
service
workshop
and more. Saratoga's fully-equipped and functional galleys offer unsurpassed
opportunities
for culinary classes and institutional feeding instruction;
(7)
Federal support is also forthcoming for this vocational training element of the
project,
beginning
the US Navy's transfer of all the machine tools and shop equipment from the USS
Forrestal
to USS Saratoga. The FY 08 federal budget includes an appropriation of $282,000
to
start
these workforce development programs;
(8)
The Saratoga project is consistent with the goals and objectives of the
Comprehensive
Plan
of the host community, the Town of North Kingstown, and has earned the formal
endorsement
of the Town's Harbor Management Commission, Recreation Commission, Planning
Commission
and School Committee. The Town Council's unanimous Resolution of support,
renewed
three times since 1999, has urged the General Assembly to join in a cooperative
effort to
"overcome
all obstacles to make the Saratoga Museum a reality";
(9)
Labor unions, environmentalists, educators, businessmen, and veterans have
joined a
bipartisan,
grass roots effort to support the Saratoga development;
(10)
Both houses of the General Assembly, and fourteen other cities and towns have
passed
similar Resolutions of support for the Saratoga Project: Providence, Warwick,
Cranston,
Glocester,
Cumberland, Richmond, East Greenwich, Lincoln, Charlestown, Smithfield, New
Shoreham,
Narragansett, Coventry, and Barrington;
(11)
USS Saratoga Museum Foundation, Inc. can identify about $10.5 million in cash,
pledges
and loans that have been or can be applied to the project. Demonstrating the
grass roots
nature
of support for the Saratoga effort, this amount includes donations and pledges
from some
3,000
individuals from 45 states;
(12)
The Saratoga project will also become a resource for business development
through
school-to-work
initiatives to be run in conjunction with area industry, colleges and technical
schools.
Roger Williams University has agreed to a broad-based, long-term relationship
to
include
a technology center to provide the West Bay with continuing computer technology
education
and job training. The Community College of Rhode Island and the University of
Rhode
Island
have also expressed a desire to partner in this initiative;
(13)
In October, 2006, the US Department of Agriculture set aside $6.5 million as a
federal
Community Facilities guarantee of financing by Independence Bank of East
Greenwich.
This
commitment not only provides the Saratoga Project with the balance of the
funding it needs,
but
it also opens the door to Quonset/Davisville development projects for USDA
financing;
(14)
The United States Navy has placed the USS Saratoga in Donation Status and has
designated
Rhode Island's USS Saratoga Museum Foundation, Inc. as the Sole Eligible
Recipient
of
the ship under Title X, United States Code. The Navy's donation of this
multi-billion dollar
asset
is contingent upon the State of Rhode Island guaranteeing the USS Saratoga
Museum
Foundation
an appropriate berth for the vessel, and the timely receipt of all
environmental
permits;
(15)
The North Kingstown School Department and the North Kingstown School
Committee
have endorsed the Saratoga Project, recognizing that the facility will become a
major
educational
resource, offering math and science opportunities for grades K-12 in addition
to
school-to-work
programs. The ship will also create a safe haven, offering after school
programs,
weekend
programs and special events attuned to youngsters. This organized after school
environment
will provide children a safe place to learn and play;
(16)
The Saratoga Project also offers the State unprecedented disaster relief and
emergency
management benefits, at a fraction of the capital and operating costs the State
would
have
to incur without this privately financed development. These benefits include
its potential as
an
emergency shelter and an alternate Emergency Operations Center (as New York
City plans to
use
the aircraft carrier Intrepid);
(17)
Emergency management officials could also make use of the ship's immense
storage
capability
for permanent, long-term and secure stockpiling of fresh water, non-perishable
foods
and
medical supplies for use in any man-caused or natural disaster. Saratoga is
also potentially
useful
as a training facility, offering permanent, year-round classroom space. Local
and state fire
officials
see training opportunities for shipboard fire fighting, damage control, HAZ-MAT
response
and confined space rescue;
(18)
Saratoga's three 1000KW diesel generators would ensure the ship had power even
if
the
land-based grid were down for an extended period, thus providing fully
functioning
communications
and medical capabilities. This power supply would provide a secure, clean and
dry
facility for rescue crews to eat, rest and resupply. Those generators could
even provide
emergency
power to hospitals and other essential facilities ashore subject to
compatibility with
the
electrical grid;
(19)
Saratoga would also provide a stable landing platform for the largest
helicopters in
our
military and civilian fleets, providing a staging platform for relief and
emergency crews.
Saratoga
would offer a fully functioning surgery, medical and dental facilities, as well
as provide
RI
Department of Health officials with additional medical space to house patients
and/or
emergency
workers in case of a major disaster. The 75,000 square feet hangar bays and
adjacent
areas
could accommodate up to ten thousand additional uninjured evacuees;
(20)
The Project is also expected to serve as a business and technology incubator,
where
high-tech
start-ups could lease space at below-market rates and take advantage of the
technical
and
experimental training programs at the same site. The ship is particularly
suited for
development
of alternative energy projects;
(21)
It is expected that substantial tax revenues new to the State of Rhode Island
will be
realized
as a result of the development and operation of this Project. Those revenues
include
construction
period income taxes. Once the Project has been completed, the State should
receive
new
income tax revenues from the jobs expected to be created at the Project, as
well as from new
employees
indirectly supported by the net new visitor spending generated by the Project;
(22)
The existence of a significant attraction and destination is expected to result
in
substantial
new expenditures made by persons from places outside of the State. The
world-class
entertainment
and educational elements are also expected to recapture a substantial amount of
leisure
and recreational spending now being made by Rhode Islanders outside of the
State. Both
impacts
will result in substantial net new sales tax revenues to the State;
(23)
Additional sales tax revenues will result from direct spending by residents;
the
personal
spending of new Park employees; and the personal spending of employed persons
indirectly
supported by the net new economic impacts generated due to the project;
(24)
Those direct income taxes and sales taxes are estimated at an additional one
million
dollars
($1,000,000) annually. In addition, taxes would be generated due to the
projects multiplier
effects
from sales taxes and income taxes. These are estimated at an additional two
hundred
thousand
dollars ($200,000) annually, for a total tax benefit to the State of Rhode
Island in excess
of
one million two hundred thousand dollars ($1,200,000) per year;
(25)
In connection with the construction of the Project, USS Saratoga Museum
Foundation,
Inc. will spend some six million dollars ($6,000,000) in private funds to
improve
State-owned
property, to include necessary dredging and offshore disposal to create the
above-
referenced
deep water berth. This development will result in the creation of an additional
deep
water
berth at Pier 2 in Davisville, improvement of the pier itself, and major
infrastructure and
utility
upgrades;
(26)
USS Saratoga Museum Foundation, Inc. has already raised and expended more than
one
million dollars ($1,000,000) (cash and in-kind) to cover operating expenses and
the cost of
exhaustive
studies required to move the project forward. These include market demand,
economic
impact
and financial feasibility studies to satisfy the United States Navy and
financial backers
that
the project is viable. In addition, the Foundation has funded state-of-the-art
technology to
produce
new environmental and engineering analyses, such as hydrographic and sub-bottom
profiling
of areas of Narragansett Bay that will be of great future value to the State;
(27)
The construction of the Project will be a cornerstone in the continuing
mixed-use
development
of the former Quonset/Davisville naval complex, and will augment and complement
the
substantial public investments which have been made in that facility and in the
surrounding
area;
(28)
The project will include a Visitor Information Center, which can promote all
other
visitor
attractions in the State. Adjacent to the Visitor Center will be a ferry float
ramp, affording
water
access to the Park for visitors from Providence, Newport and Wickford. The
float ramp and
Visitor
Center will form the nexus of an intermodal transportation facility, from which
a network
of
ferries, trolleys, trams, and water taxis could circulate tourists, local
visitors, shoppers at the
Gateway
Center and other inhabitants of and visitors to the State. The proximity of
railroad tracks
could
lead to a future extension of commuter rail service, thereby contributing to
the vitality of
the
Town of North Kingstown and the entire South County region;
(29)
The existence of a year-round attraction at Quonset/Davisville will
significantly
improve
the financial viability of hotel operations at the Park. The project will also
offer public
access
to and use of another part of the Bay waterfront, as well as the potential for
development
of
the adjacent beach and other nearby recreation facilities; and
WHEREAS,
The Saratoga project can be complementary to other ongoing and planned
development
at the Quonset/Davisville Commerce Park; and
WHEREAS,
The Senate recognizes time is of the essence in moving this project forward,
because
the USS Saratoga Museum Foundation, Inc.'s USDA funding commitment expires
September
30, 2008; and
WHEREAS,
This Senate desires to eliminate those administrative obstacles so as to make
sure
the many public benefits described above are not lost to the State and its
residents, and also
to
encourage the continuation of corporate and other private financial support;
now, therefore be
it
RESOLVED,
That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
hereby
views with concern the complications and administrative delays caused by
conflicting
State
Agency interpretations of rules and regulations which threaten to negate a
potential
economic
stimulus opportunity and educational asset for Rhode Island; and be it further
RESOLVED,
That this Senate encourages prompt action by the Coastal Resources
Management
Council, the Department of Environmental Management and the Quonset
Development
Corporation to cooperate to overcome all bureaucratic and technical obstacles
in
order
to move forward with this worthwhile endeavor; and be it further
RESOLVED,
That to accomplish those ends, this Senate desires the mooring of Saratoga
at
the north side of Pier 2 at Davisville to be deemed a "permitted use"
as defined by the Coastal
Resources
Management Council; and be it further
RESOLVED,
That this Senate also endorses a lease of the necessary mooring space,
along
with sufficient pier deck and other acreage be provided to ensure adequate
parking, traffic
access,
utility infrastructure and landside development to support the facility, for a
term of no less
than
forty (40) years, at market value rent, with appropriate credits for the values
of
improvements
to State-owned property; and be it further
RESOLVED,
That Quonset Development Corporation, Department of Environmental
Management
and Coastal Resources Management Council should provide full assistance and
cooperation
to lessee in obtaining the necessary permits and certifications, subject to
compliance
with
federal and state law; and be it further
RESOLVED,
That all State agencies should work together to assist in the timely
realization
of this development which offers such significant benefits to the State and its
residents,
is supported by the local communities, and is compatible with responsible
development
of
Narragansett Bay; and be it further
RESOLVED,
That this Senate restates and reconfirms its strong support of the concept of
the
Saratoga Heritage and Technology Park as originally expressed in its March,
2000 and May,
2002
Resolutions, and also strongly supports the private fund-raising effort now
under way for
the
USS Saratoga project; and be it further
RESOLVED,
That this Senate urges all interested parties, including, but not limited to,
the
Governor, the Economic Development Corporation, the Quonset Development
Corporation,
the
Coastal Resources Management Council, the Department of Environmental
Management,
various
chambers of commerce, tourism development entities, the business community and
the
residents
of this State to come together in a cooperative effort to eliminate any
unnecessary
obstacles
to the timely consideration of the Saratoga project; and be it further
RESOLVED,
That the Secretary of State be and he hereby is authorized and directed to
transmit
duly certified copies of this resolution to the Governor and the Directors of
the Rhode
Island
Economic Development Corporation, the Department of Environmental Management
and
the
Coastal Resources Management Council.
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LC03206
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