Development agreement to go before UG Commission April 9
A ticket tax increase on parking for Sporting Park stadium is planned to help pay for the new developments such as parking in the U.S. Soccer project in western Wyandotte County, according to a Unified Government Standing Committee meeting on Monday night.
Negotiations have progressed to the point that the agreement between the UG and OnGoal, which is developing the U.S. Soccer project, is ready to go to the UG Commission on April 9, according to officials.
According to information presented at the Monday evening meeting, a ticket tax would increase to $2.25. A community improvement district would have a small special assessment and a $1 ticket tax, according to UG information.
A lease is in place with Kansas Speedway for parking, Todd LaSala, an attorney working with the UG, said. A community improvement district tax as well as a tax will be on each event at the stadium. The amount of the tax on each ticket sold would increase to help pay for these parking improvements.
UG Commissioner Gayle Townsend questioned information that was presented that stated that if a ticket tax increase and CID are insufficient, the UG would notify the developer of the shortfall, and the question was asked, who pays for the difference. UG presented information that if CID revenues increase, the ticket tax could fluctuate.
“Why would we leave this issue up in the air?” Townsend asked.
LaSala stated that in the negotiations, neither party wanted to be obligated to pay money if there was a shortfall on rent. If the revenues were short, that would be because not enough people are sitting in the stands, he said. So it may be a question of looking for alternative parking opportunity for the stadium, he said. He said the UG didn’t want to be locked down into that lease if there wasn’t a revenue source to pay for it.
If neither party decides to cover any potential shortfall, the UG then would have the opportunity to terminate the lease, LaSala said.
“That provision is about being able to say to the developer, there’s not enough money here, do you want to put in and cover this shortfall, and if they don’t, our opportunity at that point is to shut down that lease, terminate that lease, and not be in the stadium parking business any more, in which case the developer will have to figure out the parking solutions on their own,” LaSala said.
The U.S. Soccer development project in western Wyandotte County moved forward on Monday night as the Unified Government Economic Development and Finance Committee heard more details about the $64 million proposal. There was not a vote taken on it at the Monday night committee meeting.
The project still has to go before the full UG Commission for a final vote, expected to be on April 9.
The highlight of the project is a new national training center for U.S. Soccer to be built on property located near the Schlitterbahn water park. An amendment to the venture agreement also includes tournament fields on the Speer family site, as well as eight additional futsal courts throughout Wyandotte County, according to UG information.
The training facility and the tournament fields are two separate sites, according to UG officials. OnGoal officials said that there is still some discussion about moving the indoor soccer field, not the training facility, to the Speer site tournament field area. OnGoal has requested the right to build a second indoor facility on the site if it sees the need, officials said.
George Brajkovic, UG economic development director, said the locations of the development projects are the same as the last time it was discussed. The Speer site, for the tournament fields is located to the east of 94th Street between Parallel Parkway and State Avenue.
The U.S. Soccer training center site is on Schlitterbahn property, 40 acres near 98th Street, south of Parallel Parkway.
Four buildings were shown for that site near 98th and Parallel Parkway. They included the National Training Center for U.S. Soccer, two buildings for health care and medical use, and a possible office building for U.S. Soccer.
As part of a venture agreement, existing double tennis court sites at Bethany Park, Highland Park, Welborn Park and Westheight Park will be converted into futsal courts. Existing single sites will have a UG option to construct a secondary base for futsal courts at Edwardsville Park, Harmon High School, Garland Park and Vega Field. These courts have a completion date of this year.
Brajkovic said there are 12 tournament fields planned, with a minimum of eight fields at the Speer site, to be built and managed by spring 2017. The Speer property is owned by the UG and the tournament fields would be run by Sporting Club.
The National Training Center, as discussed at an earlier meeting, would still have one or more buildings up to 100,000 square feet, outdoor facilities and a completion date of 2017, Brajkovic said.
Some sort of preferential treatment would be given to Wyandotte County groups, and there would be a specific provision for Unified Government Parks and Recreation program use, as discussed earlier, Brajkovic said.
The financing is through $64 million STAR (sales tax revenue) bonds, he said. This includes the National Training Center at $26 million; tournament fields, $17.5 million; land acquisition, $10 million; and parking, $1 million, he said. Under the STAR bond concept, money from sales taxes in a district goes directly to pay for the project.
There is also a proposal from OnGoal to consider grass parking as part of the tournament field structure, so the UG staff is reviewing that, he said. If that needs to be an improved surface, there is a provision that would take $1 million from the STAR bond agreement to make that improvement, he said. UG Adminsitrator Doug Bach said the $1 million would go into some sort of escrow account, and if it was not used, it would go toward paying back bonds.
The coaching and training center component has a 500-mile radius restriction preventing a similar facility from going in within 500 miles. The restriction would be on U.S. Soccer, Bach said.
Brajkovic said the local revenue pledge for this project was estimated at $31 million to $42 million, up to 17 years. The new local sales tax generated is estimated at $65 million over 30 years, he said.
Commissioner Ann Murguia said the action requested Monday evening was contrary to what was presented previously. She didn’t have anything to object to, she added. But the new information was handed to commissioners right before the Monday night meeting without an opportunity to review it.
To view an earlier story on the U.S. Soccer development agreement with the UG, visit https://wyandotteonline.com/ug-close-to-final-agreement-on-64-million-u-s-soccer-deal/.