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City council's first stadium vote next week
(Omaha World-Herald (NE) (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) May 17--Game on.
After months of discussion about a new downtown ballpark, the Omaha City Council will have its first opportunity next week to formally weigh in on the plans.
The council will be asked Tuesday to approve a $3.4 million contract for the demolition of the former Pinnacle Foods plant at 10th Street and Capitol Avenue. A parking lot will be built at the site to replace stalls displaced by the stadium on Qwest Center Omaha lots C and E.
The vote isn't likely to generate much controversy because the council is expected to overwhelmingly support the downtown stadium.
Councilman Franklin Thompson said he wishes the council had been involved in the downtown stadium plans before now, but he will vote for the ballpark measures. Several council members have complained that Mayor Mike Fahey did not involve them in the plans as they were being developed.
"The 25-year deal is what really won me over," Thompson said, referring to the CWS contract. "The second thing is the commitment to bring high quality development to the Rosenblatt site."
Council President Dan Welch said he is glad that the community now seems to be on the same page on the stadium issue and that the city can move ahead with the project.
Despite the apparent council support, Councilman Garry Gernandt said he won't endorse the downtown stadium plan.
Gernandt, who represents south Omaha, said he plans to vote for the demolition of the Pinnacle plant, but not any of the other stadium measures that will be introduced at Tuesday's council meeting. Votes on those measures won't come until June 10. They include:
--A lease agreement between Omaha and the Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority, which lays out MECA's responsibility for managing the new stadium and the compensation it will receive from the city to do so.
--A lease agreement between Omaha, MECA and College World Series of Omaha Inc., which determines the responsibilities each entity will assume during the two-week annual baseball championship from 2011 to 2035.
--An agreement that establishes the nonprofit group Donor's Trust as the entity that will collect private money for the project, then direct it to the city to help pay for the stadium. The stadium plans calls for $42.95 million in private donations. Donor's Trust handled the private donations for the convention center and arena.
--A downtown stadium project plan, which puts an outline of the entire project on the city books.
--An ordinance to raise the city's car rental tax from $6 to $8 per rental, which will generate an estimated $9.66 million to help pay for the stadium.
--An ordinance to raise the city's portion of the hotel tax rate from 4 percent to 5.5 percent, which will generate an estimated $22.31 million to help pay for the stadium. Of the increase, 1 percent will go toward the stadium debt, while the remaining .5 percent will go to the Omaha Convention and Visitors Bureau.
--An ordinance that allows the city to utilize revenue from seat taxes paid on tickets to events at the new downtown stadium to help pay for the construction of the ballpark.
Public hearings on each of those issues will be held at the June 1 council meeting.
First, however, the council will vote on the contract for Anderson Excavating to demolish the Pinnacle plant.
That site will be turned into a parking lot with 340 stalls. The city agreed to construct the lot as part of the agreement with MECA under which lots C and E may be used for the stadium.
Planning Director Steve Jensen said that if the contract is approved, demolition work would begin soon afterward and be complete by mid-November.
"In order to meet our deadlines, we need to get going on it," Jensen said.
The city is also in negotiations with three landowners to acquire adjacent properties that currently house Hauff Sporting Goods and Ferguson Enterprises. Jensen said the city is working to find alternate locations for both businesses.
--Contact the writer: 444-1022, karen.sloan@owh.com
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