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TIF For Oasis At Lakeport Gets Unanimous Thumbs-Up From Osage Beach Aldermen; Here's What's Next

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Oasis at Lakeport

OSAGE BEACH, Mo. — The most-talked-about development at the Lake in recent history, the Oasis at Lakeport got two critical votes from Osage Beach elected officials last week. 

In an Osage Beach Board of Alderman meeting on Thursday, May 18, aldermen unanimously voted to approve the first reading of the Oasis at Lakeport’s TIF Redevelopment Plan and the Lakeport Village Community Improvement District.

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.

The TIF

The TIF process is not complete after the May 18 vote, however. City Attorney Cole Bradbury explained in an interview with Lake Expo that this TIF agreement has four components, all of which must be passed by first and second readings by the Board of Aldermen:

1. Redevelopment Plan -- an overall vision for the project, required by state law -- 1st Reading passed on May 18

2. Community Improvement District -- establishes infrastructure-earmarked taxes on that property only -- 1st Reading passed on May 18

3. Chapter 100 Sales Tax Exemption -- exempts the property from paying certain sales taxes -- still in the draft phase

4. Redevelopment Agreement -- what Bradbury called "the nuts and bolts," with all the specifics of the agreement between the City and the Developers -- still in the draft phase.

Bradbury said there will be at least two more board of aldermen meetings (both June meetings) in which one or multiple of these elements will be on the agenda. Some elements of construction — site clearing, etc. — can begin before the agreements are all approved, he said, but construction will not begin in earnest until the second readings of all four of those components have passed by a vote of the aldermen.

The Meeting

Public comment for the TIF focused primarily on concerns about Jeffries Road and surrounding highways that would be affected by the increased traffic generated by Oasis.

“What due-diligence has the board done so far about traffic throughout the area? Have there been any traffic studies specifically on traffic patterns going to Jeffries and on Jeffries?” asked one citizen in attendance. “Personally, as a citizen, I would ask that you get really extensive studies about the traffic issues and if there are going to be problems, how bad could they be? And then... share that with the citizens before you make a final decision.”

Tegethoff referred to the traffic study for the area that would be completed around the end of June.

“And it doesn't just test people coming in and out of our amusement park. It'll be for miles on either side, multiple exits. Obviously, certainly, Case Road because as you come east towards Lakeport you’re getting off on Case Road, not Jeffries. But most likely it will cover as far as Nichols Road and multiple exits back the other way. They'll come back to us with a report and we'll probably be towards the end of June. That report will detail everything from potential widening of roads, re-signalization intersections, adding roundabout off sites, replace a stoplight, widen Jeffries, things like that,” he responded.

Alderman Bob O’Steen asked about the Tegethoff Development buying out the Lakewood Resort timeshare properties that are located on the site. The two parties have been in seemingly tense negotiation about the properties, including the vice president of Lakewood Resort speaking against the development at the last TIF Commission meeting. On Thursday Tegethoff told aldermen the developer has agreed to the timeshare board’s counteroffer but the board has requested until the end of May to consider the offer.

“They ultimately countered our offer, so that’s their formal counteroffer. There's been some discussions back and forth. And we were surprised at their response that they came to the TIF Commission with. After that, we accepted their [counteroffer], and now they've asked us that they have until May 31st. In asking them to give us a response to our acceptance of their counteroffer before this meeting, they quickly came back and said, 'Can you give us until the end of May?' So that's the status,” Tegethoff said.

He went on to say that if going through the timeshare board proved to not be a viable option, the development group is looking into buying-out all 1,100 deeded owners.

“I am under contract to purchase eight of the individual units currently; two of those have been submitted to the board for approval. So we are taking multiple paths to acquire those. We have dozens more. I can't count how many owners have reached out explicitly. We continue to be positive with this. I think there's multiple paths, but we'd like to continue negotiating in good faith,” he concluded.

Alderman Huffman asked about discussions between the developer and Camden County Schools to donate to the school’s 501c3 as a way to offset tax losses due to the TIF. According to Tegethoff, he is currently in dialogue with the school district.

“It’s no secret that the TIF commission meeting was pretty eventful,” he said. “Since then I have had numerous discussions one-on-one with Dr. Kirksey in his office, and we made a proposal to them... One of the needs they said they had was... an SRO officer [School Resource Officer] at Osage Beach Elementary, and I said ‘Deal, we’ll pay for it.’ ... We also offered them a million dollars to their 501c3 and the SRO, and they countered, and we haven’t responded yet. But we have made significant offers to them and met with them. I think it’s fair to say and that Dr. Kirksey would say we’re having good dialogue, him and I, and we hope we can come to an agreement.”

Tegethoff also stated that he had been speaking with the fire district and was in talks to provide a new ladder truck and other equipment for the fire district.

After taking public comment and asking questions of Tegethoff, the Board voted unanimously to pass both the first reading of the TIF redevelopment plan and the Community Improvement District.

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