Bellevue City Council approves issuing bonds for indoor waterpark, hotel project | #citycouncil

The heated, year-round facility aquatic facility is planned northwest of the U.S. Highway 34 and U.S. Highway 75 interchange, along with three hotels.

The waterpark would have a retractable roof and include an arcade for gamers, said Harrison Johnson, Bellevue director of community development.

It would be modeled after Epicwaters in Texas. The closest large indoor waterpark, the Great Wolf Lodge in Wisconsin, is only 76,000 square feet, he said.

Upon completion, the new waterpark is expected to draw visitors from a 180- to 250-mile radius. The smaller circle would include Grand Island and Kearney, as well as the Sioux City metro area in Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota; Des Moines; Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Manhattan, Kansas; and the Kansas City metropolitan area in Kansas and Missouri. The larger circle would reach communities such as North Platte; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Wichita, Kansas; and Columbia, Missouri. 

“This will be one of the biggest attractions in the state,” Johnson said.

The city plans to have American Resort Management, which operates Epicwaters in Texas and waterparks in Florida and California, manage the Bellevue waterpark, he said.

“We build it, we own it, we contract with them to run it,” Johnson said.

Bellevue Mayor Rusty Hike said the project, viewed as a whole, would grow the city’s tax base, which potentially would reduce the tax burden faced by local property owners, instead of contributing to their property tax bills.

“This is a catalyst that will drive that whole area,” Hike said. “It’s paying for itself. It’s generating entertainment dollars, bringing outside money into town, creating jobs.”

On Tuesday, the Bellevue City Council gave the city the authority to issue up to $60 million in municipal bonds. Jim Ristow, city administrator, said that would include $5 million to purchase the property and $55 million to build the waterpark.

The city would get a percentage of the waterpark’s profits, he said. The area would be declared a Good Life District, which means half of the sales tax revenue — which the city estimates at $900,000 per year — would be diverted back to the city to help pay for the amenities. The city also would assess an occupational tax in the district to generate an estimated $1.8 million a year.

The city’s share of the profits has been estimated at $1.4 million, Johnson said.

“The revenue would exceed our bond payments, at least for the first five years,” he said.

Bellevue residents would receive a discount on admission to the waterpark, Johnson said, and the facility could be used for community youth programs, too.

Of course, the city is hoping the development will draw other businesses, such as restaurants, bars and convenience stores, Ristow said.

“Anything we add into that will help us accelerate paying our bond down or turn around and use that for property tax relief,” he said.

The city and local partners have been working on the plans for more than two years, Johnson said. The city had an independent outside consultant study the project and provide estimates of profits and revenue, Johnson said.

“They gave us their findings, and we cut them in half to take the most conservative estimate,” he said.

Speaking during a public hearing Tuesday after the council opted to skip three readings of the ordinances to expedite a vote, Bellevue resident Patrice Beckham questioned why the city would issue bonds.

“We have $70 million in debt already,” she said. “I think there’s clearly risk here.”

Rich Severson, Bellevue’s finance director, said the city had gotten estimates from three different “experts.”

“We’re going to only take on as much (debt) as we need to,” he said. “I just think we’ve done as much work as we could around these, and now it’s up to the council whether they want to take this on.”

Cody Wickham of D.A. Davidson, bond underwriter for the city, said they would initially only issue two- or three-year bonds. When the revenue began coming in, then they would issue long-term bonds.

Wickham added that regulations limit how much the city can increase its levy to cover municipal bonds.

“You do not have the ability to raise an unlimited tax,” he said.

The council passed the bond ordinance unanimously with all members present at Tuesday’s meeting.

Construction is expected to begin this summer, with a targeted opening date for the waterpark in summer 2026.