By Marvin G. Cortner
Editor

Osceola County officials are still reviewing three proposals to build eight amateur playing fields as a way to promote overnight tourist visits to the county, with $7.5 million of lodging tax money on the table for the project.

On Aug. 30, the County Commission at its quarterly retreat briefly reviewed the proposals, which have been scaled back several times, due to dwindling tourist develop tax receipts resulting from fewer tourists visiting the area amid the recession. Other projects recently approved for funding also reduced the money available. The commission will revisit the issue at its Sept. 13 meeting.

In its proposal, Avatar Properties would sell to the county 85 acres of the former Judge family property across East U.S. Highway 192 from Osceola Heritage Park. The price tag for the property would be $5,482,500, with no site improvements included. The county’s cost to improve the land and build the fields with related amenities, such as a concession area and restrooms, would be about $7.46 million, according to the company.

Tony Iorio, vice president of development for Avatar Properties, said the company would pay to extend Bill Beck Boulevard to provide access to the sports facility. In addition, Avatar later could sell an additional 76 acres to the county for $4.92 million to accommodate an expansion of the facility. Avatar also would consider lining up a Marriott Hotel for a nearby site if the expansion occurred.

Iorio said the sports facility could eventually be connected to the downtown Kissimmee lakefront through a bike path/trail running along Mill Creek Slough. He said other public entities are looking at nearby property for development of a reused water storage facility.

When asked who would manage the facility on Avatar property, Iorio said, “Not the county, probably.”

• Harmony Development’s proposal involves the company donating 81 acres in the community of Harmony, after which the company would prepare the site and build the facility and related amenities at an estimated cost of $17.7 million.

Harmony Development would then sell the improved property to the county for $7.5 million. The county would then lease the facility back to Harmony Development, which would operate and maintain it. The difference between the site’s purchase price and the cost to develop it would be paid back to Harmony in the form of pre-paid rent. Once the difference is paid off, the county would own the facility but Harmony would continue to operate and maintain it.

According to Jim Lentz, chairman of Harmony Development, the company also would build an access road from U.S. Highway 192 to the sports facility at an estimated cost of $4 million. The company also would make available for purchase by the county an additional 25 acres for four more playing fields.

“We would have $20 million in equity in the project between building roads and the sports facility,” Lentz said. “And since we’d operate it, we would have the needed amenities to accommodate world class events.”

Lentz also said the fields would have synthetic turf – at an added cost of about $1 million – to reduce the number of game cancellations due to rain.

• Officials of the Falcone Group, which previously proposed a development for the Rolling Oaks community off West U.S. Highway 192 next to State Road 429, stated in a letter to the county that with the “limited funds that are being allocated to this project,” it could not come up with an economic solution for both the county and the company.

In the letter, Albo Antenucci Jr., company executive vice president, urged the county to table any decision on building more playing fields until the economy and tourist tax revenue improves. He also urged the county to consider a site in the main West U.S. Highway 192 tourist corridor.

Under Falcone’s previous proposal, it would sell 75 acres in the Rolling Oaks development to the county for $5,625,000 and then an additional $1,875,000 would be owed after the county prepared the site for construction. Total improvement costs of $12 million would be paid by the county.

The county also could purchase an option to buy an additional 75 acres for expanding the sports facility. If the county were to opt for the additional purchase and expansion, Falcone Group would commit to developing a 300-room hotel in Rolling Oaks.

County Commission concerns over the proposals have been varied, from the Falcone Group project being too expensive to the Harmony and Avatar projects not being in the West U.S. Highway 192 tourist corridor. In the past, commissioners have said they like the price tag of the Harmony proposal, the location of Rolling Oaks in the heart of tourist territory and the synergy the Avatar site would produce when meshed with the facilities now at or planned for Osceola Heritage Park.

Commissioner Ken Smith said he still wants the county to consider the feasibility of developing additional playing fields at the county-owned Mac Overstreet Park, located next to Lake Tohopekaliga off Reaves Road between Kissimmee and Poinciana and.

“I would at least like to have a comparable cost of building eight amateur fields there, including the cost of an access road,” Smith said.

Commissioner Brandon Arrington said he had pushed for playing fields at the park but he’s become worried about “ongoing costs” for maintenance and operations – costs that tourist tax revenue might not be able to cover.

County staff reported that the average cost to maintain a county-owned grass playing field is about $180,000. A decision on which project to pursue, if any, is still several weeks away.

Tourist tax revenue is generated through a 6 percent tax on all overnight stays in the county of 180 days or less.

Other retreat issues

Commissioners at their retreat also briefly discussed how transportation impact fees might be affected if voters Nov. 1 approve the 1 percent sales surtax for road projects. The question commissioners would have to consider with referendum approval would be whether these impact fees could be reduced, and if so, by how much.

Also briefly discussed was whether the county should pursue a real estate transaction fee for existing property as a way to reduce impact fees for new development.

Other topics discussed were:

• An educational campaign to inform voters about the need for the 1 percent surtax approval.

• Further work on an overall transportation plan for the county, including a mass transit component.

In a related issue, Commissioner John Quiñones urged the county to push for a transit station in Celebration that would serve as an interconnect point between high-speed rail coming to Orlando from Tampa and SunRail (commuter rail). The connection between the two rail systems could be by rapid bus transit, he said.

“Bring it to West 192 and Celebration; further discussion is needed on this issue – we should have input on where that stop would be,” Quiñones said, adding that an interconnection at Disney would not be advantageous to Osceola County.