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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