Board approves Butterfly Palace development ordinances, authorizes CID board appointments; bond plan postponed

The Board of Aldermen on May 20 approved a package of ordinances and agreements enabling expansion of the Butterfly Palace, established the Butterfly Palace Community Improvement District and authorized related cooperative and funding agreements, while postponing an industrial revenue bond plan tied to the project.

City staff presented the items as part of the meeting’s consent agenda and via subsequent reports. The board approved the consent package by roll-call vote 4-0. Later the board accepted a staff recommendation to postpone indefinitely the chapter 100 industrial development plan for the Butterfly Palace after staff and the applicant withdrew the plan because of errors in the cost-benefit analysis.

The consent agenda items the board approved include: an ordinance approving a development agreement between the city and RBD Marketing LLC for the Butterfly Palace expansion (bill 65-44); an ordinance approving the petition to establish the Butterfly Palace Community Improvement District (bill 65-45); a cooperative agreement with the CID relating to the development agreement (bill 65-46); payment of incentive fees to ASM Global, the Branson Convention Center manager (bill 65-48); a streetscape project funding contribution agreement with the Historic Downtown Branson CID (bill 65-49); and an ordinance adding a new demolition regulation to the Branson Municipal Code (bill 65-50). The clerk recorded a 4-0 vote on the consent agenda.

Lindsey, a city staff member, told the board the industrial revenue bond plan presented two weeks earlier had been withdrawn after staff found “some of the mathematics in the cost benefit analysis were incorrect.” She said a revised plan had been submitted and that the ordinance seeking authorization for bond counsel and bond issuance would be postponed: “So that plan has to be it has been withdrawn and a new plan has been amended, and submitted to the board of Alderman. But this bill here, we would seek a a definite postponement.”

After approving the CID ordinances, the board adopted a resolution consenting to mayoral appointments to the Butterfly Palace CID’s board of directors. City staff told the board the resolution would appoint Kathy Stepp and Alex Gerard from the city administrative offices to two-year terms on the CID board.

The record shows the board handled the expansion approvals and cooperative agreements separately from the industrial revenue bond authorization. Staff and the applicant withdrew the bond plan rather than proceed with the version the board had before it; the board voted to postpone consideration indefinitely while the applicant submits corrected materials. The city did not vote on issuing bonds at the meeting.

What’s next: staff will process the amended chapter 100 plan and any revised cost-benefit analysis submitted by the applicant; the board said it will return the matter to the agenda once corrected materials are available.

Votes at a glance: the consent agenda (which included bills 65-44, 65-45, 65-46, 65-48, 65-49 and 65-50) passed by roll-call vote 4-0. A separate motion to postpone the industrial development/bond plan (bill 65-47) also passed 4-0.