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. He described the presentation as conceptual and said the city is seeking feedback rather than a vote. - Tyler Buswell of Land Reserve described the company as a master planner and said Land Reserve and Property Reserve view the project as a long‑term community build that should return tax revenue once fully developed. - The financing structure presented relies on two principal elements: (1) redirecting a portion of real property tax revenue for a defined initial period for select land uses (industrial, multifamily, office, retail) and (2) forming a new community improvement district (CID) over the development area, with a concept of splitting CID receipts roughly 50/50 between regional infrastructure and localized public improvements. - Bushek walked the council through sample tax treatments Land Reserve requests for various land uses (for example, industrial and multifamily proposals include periods of partial redirection and abatement for business attraction; retail and office examples showed smaller redirections to fund infrastructure). He stressed the request is for feedback on the overall approach, not final terms. - Council members asked for clearer metrics: how the proposed tax redirections compare with past incentive packages, a simple slide showing what portion of a hypothetical project cost they would represent (Bushek and staff said a working estimate is about 15% of total project cost for the Land Reserve funding package), and how the plan would phase with infrastructure construction.

Supporting details and context - Bushek and Land Reserve staff described this as a rare opportunity to work with a single landowner (Property Reserve / Land Reserve, entities associated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter‑day Saints) to avoid a piecemeal, parcel‑by‑parcel funding approach. He said the city has used exactions — conditions on zoning approvals requiring developers to fund public improvements — for decades, and that the proposed structure is an evolution of that practice applied at scale. - Estimated line items mentioned in the presentation included Todd George Parkway and major sanitary pump stations as significant costs; Bushek listed stormwater, major water mains and electric infrastructure as additional major items and noted a substantial contingency in preliminary cost estimates. - Staff and Land Reserve emphasized phasing: the plan focuses on phase 1 and phase 2 sewer basins and pump stations first; some infrastructure elements (for example, the first lift station and key water and road links) would need to be in place before certain private projects could proceed. - Ryan Elam, assistant city manager, said the city had programmed Todd George Parkway in the capital improvements plan (funded by the April 2023 no‑tax‑increase bond issue) and estimated design and construction timing in the council discussion would likely be measured in years and could be accelerated with developer partnership.

Council feedback and next steps - Council members voiced general support for continuing the conversation but asked for additional detail before any formal commitments: a concise table comparing the Land Reserve proposal to past incentive packages; clearer modeling showing what the proposed redirections represent as a share of total project costs; and language or contractual protections to preserve city discretion on individual project design and public improvement requirements. - Council member Shields asked how the plan would affect the city's usual project‑by‑project review; Bushek and Land Reserve representatives said individual projects would still come through the standard pre‑application and PDP (planned development plan) process and that Land Reserve would use covenants and CC&Rs to maintain quality and alignment with the master plan. - City staff summarized next steps: the city and Land Reserve will refine the financing plan for the North Area using council feedback; if the council supports the approach, the same framework could be adapted for the South Area later; and pre‑application meetings would begin with prospective developers as parcels are marketed.

Ending The presentation closed with Land Reserve and city staff asking the council for feedback on the financing approach; the council provided a set of direction points rather than taking formal action. Staff and Land Reserve said they will return with more detailed modeling and contract language if the council signals support to proceed.