Targeted tax hike around Wichita ballpark could be used to pay for convention center

Wichita’s City Council has expanded a localized sales tax increase in the Delano area to help fund construction of the city’s new baseball park, private development around it — and potentially the replacement of the Century II Convention and Performing Arts Center.

The Council also removed a pedestrian footbridge spanning the Arkansas River from the ballpark project. The future of the bridge will likely be determined by a master plan being developed for the east bank of the Arkansas River downtown.

The add-on tax will collect two cents on every dollar of sales in the project area, called a Community Improvement District, for 22 years.

Unlike every other CID in the city, there’s no cap on the money that can be raised by the tax.

It will continue for the full 22-year term and taxes collected will be spent on public or private development in the area, said Scot Rigby, assistant city manager.

The city has a tax revenue sharing agreement on a planned development at the Metropolitan Baptist Church site. The city will share the CID generated on that property with developers George Laham, Dave Well, Dave Burk and Jerry Jones. The city will get the first $10 million collected at the church site from the additional sales tax through the CID. The developers will get the next $30 million, and the city and developers take a 50-50 split of anything collected above $40 million.

Century II was removed from early versions of a proposed tax district after Music Theatre Wichita and others objected to using sales taxes generated by performing arts tickets on the ballpark project and not a new performing arts center or convention center.

The City Council amended the district to allow the added sales tax in the ballpark CID district to fund convention centers and public auditoriums within the district boundaries.

The district does not include existing businesses in Delano, but covers most of the area from Douglas to Kellogg between McLean and Sycamore. It also covers a parking lot north of the Drury Plaza Hotel Broadview at First and Waco that could later be developed by the Wind Surge team owners. It has been expanded across the river to include most of the land south of Waterman to Main bound to the south by Kellogg.

The expansion of the ballpark tax district to the east bank of the Arkansas River was questioned by Jordan Poland of the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame.

Poland said he was concerned that his organization, based in the Wichita Boathouse at the WaterWalk, was included in the taxing district “while some of our neighbors were not.”

He said on the east bank, the area included in the tax district is practically all parking lots and green space, with its boundaries drawn to exclude the former Gander Mountain store, the Board of Realtors office and the WaterWalk condo/office/retail building.

“We’re the only occupied building on that side of the river that is included,” he said.

City Manager Robert Layton said the Boathouse is included in the CID because it’s on city-owned land and is being “considered for future redevelopment.” While there are no immediate plans to replace the Boathouse or displace the museum, staff “wanted the ability to consider that.”

The Boathouse lease has about 90 years left, and Poland said he expects to hold up to those terms.

The entire east-bank area is being planned for redevelopment by a public-private Riverfront Legacy Master Plan group.

They have proposed a plan that would eventually demolish the Boathouse, Century II and the former downtown library, replacing them with more than $1 billion of new development, including a new convention center and separate performing arts center.

In addition to the public facilities, the Riverfront master plan envisions an array of private developments including apartment, office, restaurant, bar and retail space.

Under fire from supporters of an initiative campaign to prevent the demolition of Century II, Council members insisted approval of the CID did not signal an endorsement of the Riverfront Legacy’s $1 billion plan.

“That is not accurate,” Mayor Brandon Whipple said. “I just want to make sure the record is clear.”

The Riverfront Legacy Master plan will be presented to the city council in March and then the council will begin policy discussions to decide what to do with the recommendation, Layton said.