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Tourist tax spending plans aired PDF Print E-mail
County News
Wednesday, 21 July 2010 14:18

By Marvin G. Cortner
Editor

Osceola County commissioners Monday continued to discuss their priorities for spending $19 million in tourist development tax reserves, focusing on possible improvements to Osceola Heritage Park and development of an amateur sports complex.
Commissioners met in an afternoon workshop amid worries over the continued decline in tourist development taxes ($36 million in fiscal year 2007-08 compared to $27.7 million projected in 2010-11), falling daily room rates at local hotels and motels and continued economic distress abroad, especially in countries that are the source of a significant number of tourists to Central Florida.
Gary Pearce, business development manager for OHP, said the facility continues to operate at a deficit of $2.8 million annually and that certain investments there could help reduce that loss.
Pearce recommended about $8.57 million in spending over five years:
• $3 million to move the 220 horse stalls now in the multi-purpose building on the east side of the Silver Spurs Arena to a new barn on the opposite side of the building. The outdoor horse ring also would be relocated to the west side of the arena.
• $2 million to convert the multipurpose building to a temperature-controlled storage and maintenance building.
• $570,000 to improve exterior signs, create a Wi-Fi network, construct a walking trail around OHP after removing the fence, develop what is referred to as the Chapman property for more parking and improve overall electrical distribution.
• $1.3 million to modify the interior of the arena to accommodate larger events, improve access via the east tunnel and add a freight elevator.
Consultant John Adams, of R.J. Whidden and Associates, recommended that the county, before it makes any decisions for OHP, first determine what the consequences would be of any expansion and what would be allowed in terms of development. He also urged the county to determine how additional traffic in and out of OHP would impact U.S. Highway 192 and whether the Florida Department of Transportation would require the county pay for improvements to that roadway.
Adams also said the county has limited land available at OHP but that building two parking garages there at a cost of $10 million would open up 12 acres for other uses. He also recommended the county consider realigning interior roadways to allow a main entrance on Boggy Creek Road between U.S. Highway 192 and Shakerag Road.
Other possibilities, Adams said, could include building a 220-room hotel on the site and accommodating the veterans’ museum of military history. The museum, Adams said, could be developed in the existing Kissimmee Convention and Visitors Bureau office or put in a new building either on a site adjacent to the bureau or along Boggy Creek Road.
In general, commissioners supported moving horse stalls to a new barn and using the multi-purpose facility for storage, removing the fence to improve the site’s aesthetics and either constructing a new building for a military museum or putting it in the visitors bureau and relocating the bureau to a county-owned building on West U.S. Highway 192. However, some commissioners said taking action now would be premature.
“The first step is to clarify our rights relating to development there,” Commissioner John Quiñones said, adding that the prospect of a hotel at OHP in today’s lodging market is not very “inviting.”
Commissioner Michael Harford urged the county to determine how improvements might impact the various groups with contracts to use OHP buildings, such as the Silver Spurs Riding Club and the Kissimmee Valley Livestock Show.
“I think that overall we have some under-utilized facilities there,” Harford said, adding that talk of a hotel or a museum is premature.
Commissioner Ken Smith said before he could support relocating the horse stalls that he would have to know how many additional room nights the improvement would generate and that any new buildings would have to be under the complete control of the county.
Sports facility
proposals
Officials from Avatar Properties, the Falcone Group and the Harmony Development Company all offered updated plans for additional playing fields and an indoor facility to accommodate expanded activities by the United States Specialty Sports Association, which is headquartered at OHP. The plans aired Monday, when compared to earlier proposals, involved either reduced price tags or more offers of financing.
In all the plans, the county would use tourist development tax money to obtain land and develop the sports complex on it. The association would then manage and maintain the facility.
The top-ranked proposal, from Avatar Properties, is to develop a sports complex on a 160-acre site across U.S. Highway 192 from OHP. The price tag would be $13.5 million for the land spread out over five or 10 years plus $5.5 million in site preparation costs.
The Falcone Group proposal involves 225 acres in the Rolling Oaks development near the intersection of State Road 429 and U.S. Highway 192, in the Four Corners area, with a price tag of $15 for the land and $8.5 million in preparation costs.
For its part, the Harmony Development Company would donate 300 acres with land preparation costs of up to $4 million covered by the county. The company also would loan the county up to two-thirds of the cost to build 10 to 12 ball fields and build a road from U.S. Highway 192 to the facility.
Commissioners said they like the Avatar Properties plan because of its potential positive impact on OHP and the East U.S. Highway 192 corridor. Plus, officials said, the county, the South Florida Water Management District, the cities of Kissimmee and St. Cloud and Toho Water Authority are all looking at an adjacent site for a joint regional stormwater reuse facility and regional park.
The Falcone Group site appealed to commissioners because of its location in the West U.S. Highway 192 corridor but they also said the selling price was prohibitive.
Commissioners also said they like the price tag for the Harmony site and the financing offer but have worries about it being too far from main tourist areas.
County Manager Don Fisher recommended that commissioners not undertake any major projects at this time and that any investments be capital improvements only and should be focused on keeping existing facilities competitive.
Fisher also recommended the military museum be developed in the visitors bureau building with renovation costs not to exceed $1.5 million and that up to $750,000 be provided for start-up money, $250,000 of which would be reserved to leverage matching grants.
Commissioners are set to revisit the proposals Monday during their regular meeting.
 

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