CanalSide impact report favors hotel scenario

A consultant says a $400 million hotel and conference center with water park for guests and some retail entities would fiscally benefit Bourne more than 300 Chapter 40B dwellings planned by architect Len Cubellis for the CanalSide Commons tract in Bourne.

Larry Koff Associates has performed a fiscal impact analysis on the hotel-conference center scenario for the town, saying developer Sam Park Associates thinks the idea is right for Cape Cod.

Selectmen are not so sure. Selectwoman Judith Conron said the study fits the Park idea but not the more traditional Cape Cod hotel experience. She says Koff's financial conclusions are based on a particular model.

Yet Koff says this model is successful in Minnesota and Wisconsin, the Poconos and Williamsburg, Va. It is a destination resort, he said.

"This is not a fictitious issue," Koff said. "A developer has expressed interest in it and has a background in transportation planning, which would help here."

Selectmen also wonder if a 62 percent year-round occupancy rate for a Park hotel overlooking the canal - with rooms costing $250 per night - would work well at the foot of the Bourne Bridge.

Koff says the water park would attract guests in the off-season. He said his analysis does not include traffic-impact studies; something that plagues CanalSide proposals going back to 1996 when a small hotel, conference center and executive-level golf course were first opposed by the Cape Cod Commission.

Koff says projected property tax revenue from the 300 condos plan would total about $546,000 per year; the hotel scenario could generate $692,000. Full-time jobs in the condo plan would total about 270; the hotel, 600.

Total revenue in the residential condo/retail scenario would total $692,000, while the hotel/retail scenario would generate $1.9 million each year with $905,000 coming from room taxes.

Koff says the residential CanalSide Commons scenario would send more kids to local schools, while the hotel scenario would necessitate hiring another health inspector and firefighter.

CanalSide to some is an outsize opportunity to provide shopping and other amenities Bourne lacks. To others, it remains a threat to the town's character.

Selectman John Ford said the Koff report, if nothing else, indicates "that business is not bad for the community; that you can raise revenue. The attitude here at one time was that business was bad for the community."

Selectmen accepted the Koff report with thanks and will critique it; while adding what Town Administrator Thomas Guerino says should be some other "what-if" scenarios. He said some "information gaps" must also be filled.

Selectman Chairman Stephen Mealy indicated his interest in Koff performing a third impact analysis for the CanalSide site, "perhaps a less lavish hotel resort."

Koff said this remains a possibility but there was no mention as to its cost. Similarly, there was no discussion about how much more time would be spent on examining another CanalSide scenario before selectmen take a stand - if they are to take one - on the project.

Other boards of selectmen, environmentalists, regional planners and community activists have over 12 years tried to raise doubts about the viability of a Commons at the foot of the bridge. Development has gone to Mashpee Commons, the Hyannis Mall, East Wareham, Plymouth and most recently to a new shopping center in West Wareham.

Bourne Courier