Island Oasis, (Carol Bryant, Central Nebraska Today)
GRAND ISLAND — Grand Island’s City Council had a study session Aug. 5 to discuss financing or refinancing five Parks and Recreation Department projects.
Patrick Brown, chief financial officer and assistant city administrator, outlined the projects and possible financing. No decisions were made because it was a study session. Also Brad Mellema, director of the Grand Island/Hall County Convention and Visitors Bureau, spoke to support the hiker/biker trail along South Locust Street to Camp Augustine.
The projects are:
*Island Oasis Water Park improvements, basic repair/replacement package, $3 million. Essential repairs and replacements to extend facility life 20 years. Enhanced and significant improvement package, $15 million. Comprehensive upgrades, enhanced attractions, and expanded amenities.
Financial analysis: Brown wrote: The basic package could be financed through existing capital reserves, limited debt issuance, or a combination of both. The enhanced package would likely require full debt financing or a phased approach given the scale of investment. Long-term borrowing would align repayment with the 20 to 25-year asset life.”
*Veterans Sports Complex Refinancing – Combined with Ryder Park Improvements/Stolley Park Train Area Improvement. Outstanding balance: $1.4 million. Refinance existing debt at favorable interest rates to reduce annual payments and total interest cost.
*Ryder Park Baseball Field improvements. Private donations: are below initial projects. Current gap in committed private funding requires evaluation of public financing options to move the project forward. Total project cost: $4 million.
Financial analysis: Brown wrote: “With lower-than-anticipated private donations and higher than anticipated cost of the project (rebidded), the rebidded project was scaled down with a cost of $4 million. Options include delaying the project until sufficient private funding is secured or proceed with the project and capture private funding that is pledged in future years.”
*Stolley Park Train Area improvements: Private donations: anticipated donations of just over $800,000 to fund a portion of the project. Public financing or reserves would cover the other part of the project. Total cost of the project: $2.5 million. Brown wrote; “Strong private fundraising reduces the city’s financing burden, though bridge funding may be necessary to align project cash flows with donation receipts.”
*South Locust Trail to Camp Augustine: – Multi-use trail expansion to enhance connectivity, recreation, and regional trail network integration. Total cost of project: $6 million. Brown wrote: “This project may qualify for federal or state grant programs to reduce the local match requirement, but the probability of grant awards are low. Debt financing or allocation of capital improvement funds could be considered for the city’s portion. Another possibility is a phased approach to this project.”
Total cost (Island Oasis, $18 million; Ryder Park, $4 million; Stolley Park Train, $2.5 million; South Locust Trail, $6 million): $30.5 million.
Brown suggested four financing options. They are:
*Pay-as-you-go funding: Use of reserves or phased funding through annual budgets to avoid debt.
*Hybrid approach: Combine debt financing, private fundraising, grants, and reserves to diversity funding resources.
*Refinancing of Veteran’s Complex: “We included this refinancing to combine it with the Ryder Park and Stolley Train Area improvements in anticipation of keeping the debt payment at the existing level or increase it to a manageable level as so smaller Parks projects can continue to be funded out of Food and Beverage Occupation Tax,” Brown wrote.
Council member Chuck Haase asked if some form of property tax relief was possible. Brown said yes.
“I would certainly like the council to consider some form of property tax relief,” Haase said.
Council president Jack Sheard said with the proposed aquatic complex in the Good Life District north of Capital Avenue, he wondered if some efficiencies could occur there. Haase said he liked the idea of not doing more work at Island Oasis until the City Council knew more about the aquatic complex.
It was brought up that Island Oasis is accessible by bike and by walking, but it was questioned whether the aquatic complex would have the same accessibility.
Parks and Recreation Director Todd Mcoy said, “We are in the middle of a $1 million design project” for Island Oasis. McCoy said he did not believe that the City Council would want to duplicate at the aquatic complex what it has at Island Oasis.
Council member Ryan O’Neill said it was important to have aquatic facilities spread out in Grand Island. He noted that Island Oasis is more of an outdoor center, while the aquatic complex would be an indoor center.
Council member Mitch Nickerson said that people are coming to Grand Island looking for things to do, and people going to the casino are looking for additional things to do. He thought that the city should invest in both Island Oasis and the aquatic center.
Grand Island/Hall County Convention and Visitors Director Brad Mellema spoke in favor of the trail along South Locust Street that would connect to the existing trail and go to Camp Augustine.
“We as a community need to deliver a project,” Mellema said. “We believe that the connection is really important.”
Mellema said that he would come back to the City Council at a later date to show them other hike/bike trail projects in the state.
He noted for the South Locust trail, there were partners including the Grand Island Economic Development Corp. and the Greater Grand Island Community Foundation.
“We’re excited about this. It has enormous potential,” Mellema said.
