Honorable mentions: Walk on the Mountain & NASCAR track
Walk on the Mountain
When the Foss Waterway restoration project began, it was a big deal. And this project was widely popular from the beginning.
A group of downtown business leaders wanted to participate in the project by financing a signature piece of development that would open along with the new esplanade and other public spaces.
The first idea that emerged from this process was a project called Walk on the Mountain.
The plan was to construct a scale model of Mount Rainier along the esplanade. Visitors would “follow a drop of water” melting from a glacier high on Rainier all the way down the sides of the mountain, eventually into the Puyallup River and then into Commencement Bay.
Interactive displays and colorful graphics would explain the geologic history of Rainier, its importance spiritually to the native population, and its role in shaping our climate. The multi-million-dollar project would be paid for by corporate contributions and admission fees. No tax dollars would be involved.
Don’t feel bad if you have not heard about this idea before, or if it just seems odd. It didn’t last long.
Shortly after the proposal was first outlined, it was noted that on most days you would be able to see the actual Mt. Rainier while you were standing on the fake Mt. Rainier. People also noted that if you wanted to walk on the mountain, the real one was just an hour drive away from the fake mountain.
Thankfully, the Walk on the Mountain idea was soon shelved. In its place, local business leaders financed construction of the extremely popular International Glass Museum with its iconic hot shop, outdoor installations, and changing exhibits.
NASCAR track
In 2007, a developer proposed to build a NASCAR track near Bremerton Airport in Kitsap County. The developer wanted the state to pay $179 million of the $345 million cost of the project.
Why is this project on the list of ideas that thankfully failed in Pierce County? Because the developer- and his large collection of important people- planned to collect the $179 million “state” share of funding from taxes paid in Tacoma and Pierce County.
A few hundred of the elite of politics and business attended a meeting on the Seattle waterfront where the details of the project were laid out. They planned to use Washington’s version of “tax increment financing” known as LIFT (Local Infrastructure Financing Tool).
LIFT presumes the amount of sales taxes in a given area will increase as the result of certain large projects, such as construction of a NASCAR track. In this case, the sales tax base of Kitsap County would not generate an increase in revenue large enough to finance the local component of the project.
That’s where Tacoma and Pierce County came in. Supporters wanted to create a LIFT district to include all of Kitsap and Pierce Counties because only then did this project pencil out.
It might be reasonably argued that there would be some sales tax increase in the Peninsula area of Pierce County if a NASCAR track was built nearby. But any sales tax increase in Buckley would also be used to finance the track. The same for Eatonville. And Orting. You don’t have to go that far away. Sales tax increases from a new retail center in Tacoma would also go to track financing even if NASCAR fans never shopped at that retail center.
When questioned at that large Seattle meeting about the likelihood of a NASCAR fan spending money in Tacoma, a local supporter of the project noted that NASCAR fans would fly into SeaTac Airport, rent cars and drive to the track for the event. It was pointed out that all of the tax revenue generated from that scenario would go to King County, not Pierce. The next argument was that Tacoma hotels and motels would also attract much of these fly-in or drive-in visitors. And Tacoma’s restaurants would pick up meals from hungry NASCAR fans.
Thankfully, there were NASCAR fans among those attending the Seattle meeting. They honestly noted that many NASCAR fans drive RVs to the races and most tracks make significant income from renting RV parking spaces. Proponents acknowledged that they also planned to have lots of available RV parking at the Bremerton facility.
In the end, it was opposition from property owners near the proposed site and environmental issues that killed the track. Pierce County civic leaders were spared having to choose whether to side with lots of their colleagues who supported this project or with those who were concerned about the unprecedented claim to local sales tax growth by supporters of a project in another county.