Lee's Summit Council Hears Conceptual Plan to Finance Major Infrastructure for 1,000‑Acre North Land Reserve

Lee's Summit city staff and Land Reserve presented a joint, conceptual financing plan on Aug. 11 that would use property‑tax redirection and a community improvement district to pay for large public infrastructure needed to open the northern roughly 1,000 acres of the Land Reserve property to development.

The presentation, led by David Bushek, chief counsel for economic development and planning, and Tyler Buswell, president of Land Reserve and global head of land for Property Reserve, did not request formal council action but asked for feedback on one primary question: whether the proposed method of funding the public infrastructure is acceptable to the council.

Why it matters: The north tract is currently largely without water, sanitary sewer and arterial roads. City staff and Land Reserve say major work — including Todd George Parkway, three sanitary sewer pump stations, large water mains and stormwater systems — is required to make the land developable. The presentation estimated the city and partner funding already secured at about $45.5 million and identified an outstanding funding target of roughly $57.5 million for the North Area that the proposed financing plan would address.

Most important facts - David Bushek said the slide tallying major infrastructure to serve the North Area shows transportation and sanitary sewer as the largest cost categories and that the remainder to be financed is "about 57,500,000.0," after roughly $45.5 million that the city has secured.…