FACT CHECK: Northport Council President Doubles Down On Claims Over Proposed $350M Resort

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Apart from the changing of the guard in the Alabama football broadcast booth, no other story has captured the attention of the Tuscaloosa metropolitan area this February quite like the proposed $350 million resort-style water park in Northport.

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As Patch previously reported, tensions have been white-hot around the sheer scope and overall private investment on the project, with a noticeable majority of those in the community speaking out in opposition to the proposed development.

Amid the public fallout of the decision, Council President Jeff Hogg posted a lengthy letter (in the neighborhood of 1,700 words) and reportedly sent it via email to his closest acolytes.

Apart from thinly veiled insults over the credibility of our reporting, Tuscaloosa Patch, which is limited from seeing his posts on social media at present, took particular exception to Hogg's irresponsible encouragement of the community to "not read, listen, or get sucked into the negative connotations floating around."

Regardless of the council president's sincerity, this notion is a dangerous one for an informed democracy to be told that only their elected leaders tell the truth, so we set out to fact-check his lengthy letter through an objective lens and informed by our extensive reporting over the last four years of this administration.

We suggest you do the same, regardless of our reporting.

Consider this a guide — a starting point ... and not the gospel your city leaders are thrusting in your face.

So, let's take it line by line from where it matters:

You can read the full letter here.

HOGG: "As all of you know the Water Park was an idea of mine from early 2020 and I have spent 4 years researching, traveling, studying, and analyzing so much data regarding such."

Tuscaloosa Patch Fact-Check: Half-truth ✅ ❌

ANALYSIS: No project has taken up as much of Hogg's sweat and effort over the last four years as securing a water park for the city. It's a campaign issue he ran on heavily in 2020 when the concept was still, at most, expected to be a small-scale, Fayette-style water park.

To his credit, while the skeptics have persisted as to the project's feasibility, it has been his central issue, even if it becomes his Waterloo.

Still, Tuscaloosa Patch's extensive reporting shows this massive lagoon concept is almost certainly not Hogg's brainchild, but one he has been determined to take credit for.

As has become widely known at this point, Tuscaloosa businessman, Friend of Patch and Texas native Matt Ray independently approached his childhood friend, University Beach developer John Hughes, with the innocent possibility of doing business in Northport. From there, and not out of Hogg's own noggin or personal initiative, the developers began their inquiry.

Hughes told Patch this previously established relationship was the reason his firm began to look into Northport, while, at the same time, confirming the stress felt by the developers with the concept being trotted out to the public as a boondoggle "water park" similar to that of Hogg's longtime desire.

ALSO READ: 'It's Not A Water Park': Developer Discusses Northport Resort Concept

After all, the misleading "water park" term alone was the primary reason the developers cited to Patch when asked why elected officials and city employees were asked to sign Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) to prohibit them from discussing the project until it was presented to the public.

But it would be an outright falsehood to say this $350 million, large-scale effort was the lone idea of the Northport council president, who, by all accounts, did nothing other than open the door to the developers once they had interest after meeting with City Administrator Glenda Webb and City Engineer Tera Tubbs.

And he sure made it easy once we found ourselves at that point — forcing through a vote less than two weeks after the public notice ran of the project ballooning from $20 million to $350 million.

Never mind our friends at the Northport Gazette — the only newspaper with the city's name in its masthead — saying such a legal notice was never published in their newspaper ahead of the vote.

HOGG: "I continuously asked everyone to come to the Water Park presentation last night and I really appreciate the ones that showed up last night with open hearts to hear the presentation. For weeks I have been telling people to not read, listen, or get sucked into the negative connotations floating around. However, at this point, it seems like others have taken false information and ran with it on social media as if it were true."

Tuscaloosa Patch Fact-Check: Half-truth ✅ ❌

ANALYSIS: This is arguably the most politically disturbing thing said by Hogg in his letter. While Hogg posted about the meeting on Facebook and might have encouraged a few in his core group of devoted acolytes to attend the public hearing where the Public-Private Partnership agreement was approved, only two people spoke out publicly in support of the resort concept — a noted political ally of Hogg and a business owner who told those in attendance that he did not live in the city limits, but spoke to the financial benefit he would have for his restaurant.

Both seemed asked by Hogg to make their case and both were roundly booed out of the council chambers when such became clear.

At this point, Tuscaloosa Patch has not been able to hear from or find someone in support of the project who doesn't financially or professionally benefit from such a development coming to fruition, which should immediately begin to raise flags.

Still, this is important to note for the sole fact that Hogg did not have a single independent citizen without an obvious political or financial agenda speak out in support of the massive project, nor has he had much in the way of public support on social media for the project.

Instead, he insists — unironically — on possessing at his disposal a Nixonian "Silent Majority" in Northport that supports the project, despite conceding in his lengthy letter that: "As like any other development, a majority of people nearby don’t want it to happen. However, there are plenty of others that do want it to happen."

HOGG: "I never want to let anyone down. But I am not someone that will flop and pander to pressure and play political games. I have no problem deciding if I feel it is the best overall for the City."

Tuscaloosa Patch Fact Check: False ❌

ANALYSIS: Many will remember the heavy public pressure campaign last summer aimed at the Northport City Council after Hogg led, at the time, a seemingly successful push by the Council to bend their own rules and approve the due diligence period to sell the Northport Community Center to Beeker Property Group to redevelop the site into a mixed-use development.

Hogg has unapologetic personal connections with developer Inge Beeker, which were noted during this chapter in the city's history, and, despite calling the police to quash dissent to the project during the meeting where the due diligence period was forced through, the Council ultimately walked back the decision to move forward on plans to sell the property and instead invest money for much-needed improvements.

ALSO READ: Northport Hands Unexpected Pair Of Wins To Vocal Critics

He's shown an ability to get cold feet and act upon it for the sake of self-preservation, so saying he will not "flop" is simply disingenuous.

HOGG: "From the beginning, I have never wanted to subsidize [the project] from our General Fund and our essential services. I wanted a Water Park that was self-sufficient. But the trend currently is showing that the admission cost was going to be higher than originally thought and no one wants to see anything fail at the expense of trying to keep cost down."

Tuscaloosa Patch Fact Check: Half-truth ✅ ❌

ANALYSIS: This project has evolved and deformed itself by leaps and bounds from where it started to where it is today. Most of the City Council, as you will remember well, left for New York City during a contentious appointment process for the District 3 council seat, but returned triumphant with a $45 million line of credit from its bond agency for three capital projects relating to recreation: The "water park," the youth tournament sports complex on the periphery of Kentuck Park and the band-aid of a project that city leaders plan to be an adventure sports park on the originally intended home of the "water park."

ALSO READ: COLUMN | Rage & Concern In Northport

Still, Hogg outright lied to the public during the last regular meeting when he said the Rose Boulevard site was never the planned home of the water park, despite excitedly telling Tuscaloosa Patch that the city finally had a home for its "water park."

ALSO READ: Northport Water Park 'Now Reality' As City Pivots To New Location

Very much a moving target as it relates to the complexities of a "water park," once city leaders learned the terrain was far too costly to grade down for such a massive project, the decision was made for the city to look elsewhere for the water park while trotting around the Rose Boulevard property as the home of the city's new adventure sports park.

Hogg is correct to say he is not trying to subsidize the project from the city's general fund.

Still, it leaves out the $20 million in bond money committed to the project, in addition to another $41 million promised to developers through a "profit-sharing" incentives package approved last Monday for a 30-year term. It might not be coming out of the general fund operating budget, but the city's seed money is the incentive dangled to the developer, in addition to a longterm commitment of a large share of the revenue generated by the project.

But, again, for Hogg to claim this will never be a burden on the city's general fund is simply disingenuous and lacks foresight.

HOGG: "By now you should realize that I don’t make haste decisions. I study and review so much. But it’s easy to see that today’s dollar doesn’t stretch as far as it did 4 years ago. And its also easy to see that even municipal water parks are having to raise prices which puts them closer in the bracket of a private development. Unfortunately, it’s the world we are living in."

Tuscaloosa Patch Fact-Check: False ❌

ANALYSIS: Hogg is nothing if not unrelenting and impulsive, given the criticism he has regularly received over the last four years of this term for the way he addresses those speaking out in disagreement. For instance, he referred to this column from Tuscaloosa Patch as "stupid" in Tuscaloosa businessman Matt Ray's comments when sharing an update on the project, despite — to this second — not elaborating on a single wrong fact or bit of misinformation. He also made the ill-informed decision to refer to those in opposition to the $350 million development as "tear wipers."

In terms of hasty decisions, though, look no further than his handling of the Northport Community Center and his decision to go along with walking back the project once the heat was turned up.

Indeed, this proved the prototype project for a big surprise for citizens involving the changes and investment of the layout of the water park.

HOGG: "From what I can tell, Fayette has not raised their admission prices of $12 for 2024 but according to their recent profit/loss summary budget, the cost to operate is budgeted at $920,561.50 annually versus the expected budgeted income of $545,000 which produces a NET LOSS of $375,000. Once again, I would not be doing you or our City right by adding additional cost strains to our budget just so everyone can have a cheaper admission price. This is one part of the reason that when we were approached with this Public Private Partnership (PPP), I had to take off my own blinders and realize that my goal of a municipal owned Water Park was doable but at what expense to the City?"

Tuscaloosa Patch Fact-Check: Half-truth ✅ ❌

ANALYSIS: Again, while Tuscaloosa Patch can independently confirm the consistent admission price at Fayette's relatively small water park, it's simply a misnomer to do so even when comparing the expectations of a similarly sized project in Northport, much less a $350 million resort.

As Patch previously reported, developers recently shot holes into Hogg's longstanding dream of a lazy river water park with a few slides and, instead, convinced him once their foot was in the door to sell the rest of the council on a resort concept.

Don't be fooled by the numbers, though.

Comparing such a development like Fayette's to anything in Northport — the 17th largest city in the state positioned in the Tuscaloosa metropolitan area — will never, under any circumstance, be an apples-to-apples comparison.

Rather, and this is our only point of speculation, Northport's decision to throw out the smaller concept in exchange for something the size of a resort, had nothing to do with the efficacy of Fayette's water park, other than developers recently telling Hogg and other city leaders how bad of an idea it would be for the city.

HOGG: "As I have researched this PPP, I realized that our City could still have the same Water Park features along with an additional $330 Million Dollar investment around it. I took out my personal feelings and was open-minded to the idea because that’s what great leaders do. I want to be remembered as someone that gave his all to make our City better than we found it and have a lasting impression for our children and future generations to come."

Tuscaloosa Patch Fact Check: TBD 🤔

ANALYSIS: This is where the whole thing goes from public policy to something taxpayers should legitimately be concerned over. Hogg never once removed his personal feelings, as was evident during this chapter of the project with his name-calling and the questionable individuals around him who seem ready to capitalize on the project for personal gain. But what raises red flags to this reporter at every turn is the lack of substance with his arguments working in tandem with the amount of credit Hogg continues to take at every turn for the project.

"I took out my personal feelings and was open-minded to the idea because that’s what great leaders do."

"I want to be remembered as someone that gave his all to make our City better than we found it and have a lasting impression for our children and future generations to come."

For this project to be for the benefit of us ignorant masses in Northport who seemed to be opposed to it from the get-go, Hogg sure does start a lot of his sentences with "I" as he tries to drop the hammer on anyone who speaks out in opposition.

So who is this for, exactly? His legacy or your benefit?

To make matters more worse, though, Hogg then goes on for several paragraphs and bullet points to discuss the burden of leadership on his shoulders, without really addressing anything other than his personal ambition and nothing in the way of facts.

Here's a look at what he said:

Addendum & Final Analysis

There's no real reason to delve into the vast array of numbers promulgated by Hogg in his argument that his dream Northport resort would prove feasible — the jury is out on so much and the rest is apples and oranges in trying to justify such a gambit.

As Tuscaloosa Patch previously reported, Hogg goes on to list the facts and figures of the project, with not a single negative possible outcome mentioned and even less given to the lack of input provided to those who will be directly impacted.

No mention of the residents in the footprint of the project or any acknowledgment of their concerns. After all, Hogg very much views this as his legacy project.

"I want to be remembered ... "

Indeed, Hogg even admitted that "As like any other development, a majority of people nearby don’t want it to happen. However, there are plenty of others that do want it to happen."

So it should be understandable that while an acknowledged majority is frothing at the mouth against the project, he is choosing to see the glass half full and ignore any outside input.

This is dangerous, though, and becomes troubling when remembering how little advanced notice the taxpayers in Northport were given other than a public notice in the print version of the Tuscaloosa News on the eve of the vote.

No, the issues to this point for those in the community relate far less with the background of the developers — however questionable they may be — as they do the way this evolved stage of the water park concept was thrust down the community's throat with little time to process its scope before we were saddled with it for good.

The fact that Hogg did little, if anything, to quell fears that the developers are outsiders looking to make a quick buck, is also quite telling because this, and so much else of what he said, shows he is trying to manage the optics of the sour project while, at the same time, side-stepping questions important not just to this nosey, inconsequential reporter, but the taxpayers in Northport who pay his salary and ensure his grip on power.

Have a news tip or suggestion on how I can improve Tuscaloosa Patch? Maybe you're interested in having your business become one of the latest sponsors for Tuscaloosa Patch? Email all inquiries to me at ryan.phillips@patch.com