Pilgrim 1600 Master Plan

Transforming the former Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station site into a district that restores lost economic value through responsible growth and conservation.

Between Plymouth Town Center and Manomet is the site of the former Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station. The Station and it’s 1600-acre site were subsequently purchased by Holtec International, the entity responsible for performing the plant’s decommissioning. The closure has presented a challenge to local economic and fiscal health. The Station once employed more than 600 highly paid professionals, and spent millions every year on local goods and services, and payments in lieu of taxes to Plymouth’s general fund. The closure also presents an opportunity. The plan let by Sasaki identifies the goals of the Plymouth community and provides recommendations to help the Town and its partners prepare to seize future opportunities to acquire, adapt, redevelop and conserve the Pilgrim 1600 according to these goals.

U3 (formerly Landwise) conducted a market analysis to assess the potential for future development at the site and modeled the financial feasibility of each proposed redevelopment scenario using a land development model based on a master developer approach. U3 also projected the annual fiscal impact each proposed redevelopment scenario was likely to have on the Town by projecting both revenues and costs, and subtracting out costs to understand total net revenue.

Through the process, land conservation and ecotourism emerged as a community priority. The U3 team undertook an additional analysis to determine to what extent conservation, acquisition, and investment in the Pilgrim 1600 site trail system is likely to “pay its own way” through economic returns and more broadly yield economic benefits. The study, undertaken to sync up with the Pilgrim 1600 Master Plan, looked at how the site is being used today for outdoor recreation, then estimated future potentials for visitation and spending by positioning the site relative to case studies.

Assuming a moderate level of amenities, a projected visitation of 120,000 could be expected to result in $6.5M in direct spending. This spending could support an additional 81 jobs, $4.1M in labor income, and $705K in state and local taxes. Total economic output is estimated at $10.1M which measures estimated value of the production of goods and services supported by visitor spending. With more minimal or robust amenities the visitation number is anticipated to change +/- 20% with correlating impacts ranging from $5.2 M to $7.8M in direct spending. Direct spending is expected to cover annual maintenance costs and would recover the upfront capital investment in less than two years. Taxes generated at the local and state level are expected to increase, but operating expenses on the entirety of the property may exceed these revenues depending on the level of maintenance, ownership and stewardship of the trail system. Benefits to open space conservation at the Pilgrim 1600 site include a strong local economy, thriving community, healthy people, abundant and diverse wildlife, clean water and air, and climate change mitigation.