$350M Lake Of The Ozarks Oasis Development Moves Closer To A TIF, But Not Everyone's Happy

OSAGE BEACH, Mo. — In a contentious TIF Commission meeting on Monday, commissioners voted to recommend approval of Oasis at Lakeport’s TIF redevelopment plan. But the vote was far from unanimous: it was 7 to 4.

Oasis at Lakeport is a proposed $350 million dollar resort and entertainment district. Construction plans include the creation of a year-round entertainment destination offering 25 acres of amusement rides and attractions along with a Marriott Hotels property and 26,000-square-foot conference center, indoor waterpark, restaurants, 200 public boat slips and 1,000-space parking garage. Amusement offerings will include roller coasters, thrill and family rides and a 200-foot-tall observation wheel.

Oasis is being developed by Tegethoff Development, which is also developing the 268-unit apartment complex on Nichols Road. That apartment complex, The Preserve at Sycamore Creek, also received a TIF, and it was the backdrop for a spat that developed at Monday night's meeting between Camdenton R-III school district board members at developer Jeff Tegethoff.

Commissioners Gail Griswold and Jacob Neusche, both representing the Camdenton school board, questioned the lack of real estate tax funding for the schools if the TIF was approved. (The TIF would essentially freeze the property taxes on the development site for 23 years — or less, if the TIF were paid off sooner than that — after which the property would be reassessed and a significantly higher property tax amount would be paid annually.) Toward the end of the meeting, tensions were raised between Tegethoff, Neusche and Griswold when Tegethoff was asked where employees at Oasis would live and he ventured he hoped they would live at the new apartments on Nichols Road.

NEUSCHE: “You’re also generating a bunch of kids for us to educate every year,”

TEGETHOFF: “There is no one living on the site, sir.”

NEUSCHE: “They’re living in your apartments and you’re going to house them there.”

TEGETHOFF: “Those are mutually exclusive properties.”

GRISWOLD: “You brought it up.”

NEUSCHE: “You brought it up and said that’s where they’re going to stay.”

TEGETHOFF: “That’s not why we’re here.”

Tegethoff went on to argue that at the current taxation level, real property taxes generated for the school district over the next 23 years would total around $683,000 (approximately $30,000 per year) — if no development were to take place. He contrasted that with the personal property tax revenues that developers have predicted would go to the school district over that same period if the TIF were approved: an average of about $615,000 per year.

TEGETHOFF: “You’ll be getting $600,000 a year in personal property tax.”

NEUSCHE: “I mean, according to your numbers but when that comes back it will probably be less too.”

TEGETHOFF: “Columbia Capital vetted those numbers for you guys.”

GRISWOLD: “Not for us.”

TEGETHOFF: “Well, it’ll be interesting when you come back to me to contribute to your 501c3. I hope you guys are in the meeting.”

GRISWOLD: Yeah, it will be interesting and your smugness is very noted.”

Another aspect of the development also came under the microscope. Lakewood Resort, which includes a marina, timeshare properties and short term rental, was anticipated to be bought by developers and the land to be used in the development of Oasis at Lakeport. But now, according to the vice president of the Lakewood Resorts, negotiations for a buyout of the resort have stalled.

"We are not part of the project," said Kenneth Barnes, vice president of Lakewood Resort. "The developer has changed his semantics a little bit... and says that now Lakewood is not under his auspices and we are still negotiating. We’re going ahead with business as usual."

Tegethoff confirmed that they were still trying to acquire Lakewood Resorts but had alternative plans in the short-term.

“Obviously, we’re going to continue to pursue Lakewood,” Tegethoff said. “We have a plan in place that we could work around it in the meantime and focus on trying to acquire it from them. That would be our primary focus right now is working around it till we get it through.”

Commissioner Ike Skelton also questioned the designation of blight on the property. A taxing entity must agree that an area is blighted in order for it to qualify for a TIF, but Skelton wasn't sure the label should apply to this land.

“I’ll be quite candid with you. You can probably blight any condo in the entire Lake of the Ozarks if you did the paperwork right. The way the requirements are for this blighting, I’m totally against the way the state has done this and I think it’s disingenuous because this piece of property is very developable,” Skelton said. “I still cannot fathom how a piece of vacant property with lakeshore frontage in this community can be blighted.”

The public comment portion of the meeting brought citizens speaking for and against the possible development, with many commenting about possible issues with an increase in traffic on Jeffries Road.

“Jeffries Road is a sleepy little road, it’s a short little road. And there’s already a business on that road, Dog Days,” one woman commented. “This is right at the beginning at Jeffries Road. A 400-room hotel has no business clogging up that little sleepy Jeffries Road. Maybe something else can be developed there but I think that overpowers the road, I think it overpowers the residents.”

One woman, who said she had been going to Lakewood Resort for 40 years and has two timeshare units in the building, stated that it was becoming more expensive to stay at Lakewood.

“Every time we come, something has been raised. We’re losing our amenities. I don’t really want to sell mine [timeshare] but I can’t afford everything going up and up and up just on vacation,” she lamented.

She went on to voice her support for Oasis at Lakeport.

“I think Osage Beach absolutely needs amusement because we used to come down here and my son would say 'Mom, there’s nothing to do now! What happened to this, what happened to that?' I’ve been coming for years and years and years so I’m happy to see some more amusement for teenagers and younger children,”

Ike Skelton asked for further clarification on her statement.

“To clarify ma’am, you’re okay with Lakewood being torn down and this development to be approved?” Skelton asked.

“At this time, I am,” the woman replied.

Developers recently announced an agreement with Marriott International for the construction of a 400-room, full-service Marriott Hotels property at Oasis. Tegethoff spoke at Monday's meeting about interest development group has already been seeing in the hotel property.

“Since announcing this project on March 27, we've immediately had three phone calls from local, state level conference bookers trying to book our hotel for two groups for five years, one group for 15 years three nights buyouts in hotels. All three of those conferences left the Lake area around 10 to 12 years ago for Branson and want to come back,” Tegethoff said. “A development like this doesn't just serve this development but reverberates with the entire Lake community. The amount of commerce that's generated on-site is $85 million a year. And I think the amount of commerce that will be generated from the entire area is immeasurable.”

The decision on a TIF agreement now passes to the Osage Beach Board of Aldermen.