Park City Council on Aug. 26 approved an ordinance adopting the Champtown Star Bond project plan, clearing a key procedural step that moves the 155-acre Champtown development toward state review and future financing. The vote on Ordinance 12 16 20 25 passed by roll call, eight in favor and one opposed.

The council’s action followed a multi-hour presentation by the developer team and the city’s bond counsel, and a public hearing in which proponents and several neighbors spoke for and against the plan. The project plan lays out an entertainment-focused mixed‑use development that the developer estimates will total about $519 million in capital investment, with roughly $145 million requested as STAR-bond-eligible costs and an ultimate STAR-bond request of up to $145 million subject to state approval.

Garth Herman, bond counsel with Gilmore & Bell, told the council the plan and the procedural steps were coordinated with the Kansas Department of Commerce and that the department had given informal approval ahead of final action. Todd LaSalle of the Stinson firm, representing the developer, described key project components — an aquarium, a butterfly pavilion, a multi‑sport/mixed martial arts facility and hotel — and said retail, restaurants and entertainment leases and letters of intent total “in excess of 250,000 square feet” in varying stages of commitment.

Developer representatives provided concept renderings and a high‑level economic impact and feasibility summary prepared by PGAV. The feasibility study projects the aquarium alone could attract about 750,000 annual visitors and states that roughly 40% of visitation would originate from more than 100 miles away; the study also projects annual stabilized employment and economic impacts in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

During council questions, LaSalle cautioned the aquarium design and construction are complex and slow processes, estimating schematic design could take 14–18 months and construction another 14–18 months; he described a realistic opening of aquarium components in 2028–2029. Ryan Mills, the developer’s retail lead, said the team had executed contracts and LOIs at various commitment stages and expected continued momentum from the leases and letters of intent.

Speakers at the public hearing included residents and local business representatives who alternately praised the economic potential and pressed for safeguards. Kyle Lang and another commenter urged the council to require clear milestones and contingency plans that protect taxpayers if projected sales tax revenue does not materialize. Pastor Robert Tolan and other supporters emphasized the scale of anticipated visitation and local business benefit.

Councilmember George Glover cast the lone nay vote on final passage; other members voted yes. The ordinance required and received a supermajority. Following the vote, the developer team said it will finish the development agreement with the city, seek temporary note financing likely in late 2025, and later pursue a public STAR-bond sale consistent with statutory requirements. LaSalle and the developer team said they expect phased construction and that some retail might open before the aquarium.

The council’s approval of the project plan does not itself authorize bond issuance or final financing; those steps require further council action, Department of Commerce approval and later public bond market transactions. The project plan references KSA 12-17-160 et seq. and will proceed next to the Department of Commerce for formal approval and to continued negotiations on the development agreement and financing.

Council members and staff said they expect to return to the council with financing requests, temporary note authorization and a completed development agreement in the coming months. Developer representatives said they plan to continue retail lease work and schematic design and hoped to show vertical progress beginning in 2026.

The council’s vote and the developer’s statements set a timetable for multiple follow-up decisions: a formal state approval, a development agreement, interim financing authorization and eventual bond issuance if the project achieves the required thresholds and sponsorship conditions.