With the Jefferson County Commission’s approval of revisions that force a developer to start with public facilities, Pleasant Harbor Resort is ready to seek building permits. At its July 22 meeting Jefferson County’s Board of County Commissioners approved amendments to the development agreement that covers the 250-acre, 800-unit project. The development agreement was originally approved by commissioners in June of 2018. It set forth a plan with regulations for the construction of a 9-hole golf course, recreation center, shops and 890 residences for guest and worker housing on Black Point, a peninsula south of Pleasant Harbor. It’s a project of the Statesman Group, a company based in Canada. After a Land Use Petition Act challenge was filed by opponents, the Kitsap County Superior Court decided on March 28 to reverse approval, but only on the stages of development and a failure to identify a community center in the development agreement and related maps. As a result, the commissioners and the county’s Department of Community Development went back to the drawing board to amend the development plan per the judge’s request. Those amendments included adding wording to specify that the “public amenities” in the development plan will include a community center that will be available for the public to use. Along with the community center, the public amenities will include the 9-hole golf course, spa services, sports courts, a pool and a water slide. “My primary concern is the requirement for public access,” said Commission Chair Kate Dean, while commissioners discussed the amendments. The court’s decision to require language about the community center was to help match the development agreement language with the Environmental Impact Statement, where a community center was described. The court also required that all the public amenities, such as the community center, be built as part of “Phase 1” of the project. This way, the developer of the resort cannot build more than Phase 1 without having first built the community center and other public amenities, said Chief Civil Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Philip Hunsucker. If the court approves the amended language in the development agreement and no appeals are made, the next step for the Statesman Group is to apply for building permits to begin actual construction of the resort, Hunsucker said.