Promoter still has Escape plan

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BY MATT OLBERDING / Lincoln Journal Star

The man behind a proposal to put an amusement park and resort with the “footprint of Disneyland” between Lincoln and Omaha says plans are still on track.

But Steve Minard says those plans are likely dependent on the Legislature passing a bill approving special tourism and entertainment districts.

Various forms of the bill, which would allow governments to dedicate a portion of tax revenue to go toward infrastructure improvements within such districts, have stalled in the Legislature since 2005.

Minard’s plan, which called for a $200 million year-round theme park and world class resort called Wild Escape,  stalled along with the bills. After announcing it in the spring of 2005 and saying construction could begin as soon as the end of that year, Minard dropped off the radar.

But he said he has been working with state officials to move the legislation forward and is “very hopeful” a bill will pass.

Unlike two years ago, though, when Minard said he would build the park whether or not the bill passes, he now says the bill or some other form of tax incentive is needed to make the project work.

“The issue is, this is very infrastructure-intensive,” Minard said.

Because of the size — Minard has said the park would need 200 acres — it almost would have to be built in an unincorporated area.

In Nebraska, tax-increment financing, in which the increased property taxes from a development can be reinvested in that development, is available only to cities and not counties.

Minard said he has an option on a piece of property, but he declined to say where it is except that it’s between Lincoln and Omaha.

Speculation has centered on Sarpy County, but Toby Churchill, executive director of the Sarpy County Economic Development Corporation, said he hasn’t heard from Minard for about a year.

While Minard’s Nebraska plans remain in flux, he does have one plan going forward.

A year ago, Minard announced he would build a 100-acre Wild Escape theme park near Wheeling, W.Va.

The site is near a large retail development that has a Cabela’s, Wal-Mart, Target and Kohl’s.

According to local media reports, the site has been cleared and ride equipment is waiting in storage, but the park is awaiting permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Churchill said he wasn’t sure how to view the West Virginia project.

On the one hand, he said, it’s good that Minard has the money and support to actually get one of his proposed parks going. On the other hand, though, Churchill said that could mean time and money that would have gone to the Nebraska project is going somewhere else.

“But it’s encouraging that they at least have one under construction,” he said.

Reach Matt Olberding at 473-2647 or molberding@journalstar.com.