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Developers of a massive liquefied natural gas shipping terminal planned on the north spit of Coos Bay filed an application Tuesday for a long-term property tax exemption for the estimated $4.1 billion development.

Instead of property taxes, Jordan Cove Energy Project LP would pay annual fees starting at $12 million every year for four years during construction, according to plans filed with Coos Curry Douglas Business Development Corp. Those fees would then increase every year thereafter for 15 years, said Margaret Barber, community development director for Coos and Curry counties.

If the Community Enhancement Plan were fully approved, the money would be allocated to education, public safety and economic development along the waterfront, according to Boost Southwest Oregon, a project supporter.

“Under a standard enterprise zone application, the taxing entities wouldn’t see property tax revenues until 2023,” Barber said. “The community required Jordan Cove to submit long-term exemption in return for Jordan Cove paying a community service fee.”

The agreement would need to be adopted by the four sponsors of the Bay Area Enterprise Zone – the cities of Coos Bay and North Bend, Coos County and the Port of Coos Bay – before construction could start, Barber said.

Jordan Cove’s liquefied natural gas shipping terminal would be powered by its own power plant. It would have the capacity to pump one billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, according to the state’s Department of Environmental Quality.

The project, 10 years in the making, is close to clearing its major regulatory hurdles, including air, land use and export permits from both state and federal agencies, Jordan Cove vice president and project manager Bob Braddock said.

“We’re on the back end of the process,” he said. “All the applications are in process. All of the uncertainties have been wrung out.”

A consortium made up of Omaha, Neb.-based Kiewit Infrastructure Co., which is building the Portland-Milwaukie transit bridge, and Overland Park, Kan.-based Black & Veatch will share general contracting duties, Braddock said. Black & Veatch will build the power plant, he said.

If approvals were secured, construction would begin in March 2015 and finish by March 2019, according to the application. Approximately 185 full-time employees would work at the facility.