Grand Island council approves amendment to Fonner Park ground lease to allow future termination with replacement parking

The Grand Island City Council on March 3 approved a first amendment to the Feb. 25, 2025 ground lease between the city and the Hall County Livestock Improvement Association, commonly known as Fonner Park, that adds a termination-at-will provision and requires the city to provide equivalent replacement parking if parking access is removed.

City Administrator Laura McAloon told the council the amendment "is to section 20 of the ground lease, and it will facilitate termination of some or all of the parking access should future land use needs change on the campus, subject to the city providing similar replacement parking access." She said the amendment followed further negotiations after public comment by a former mayor raised concerns about the original lease lacking termination clauses other than default.

The amendment was approved earlier by Fonner Park at a special board meeting on March 3, 2025, McAloon said. She told the council there is no additional fiscal impact to the city from the amendment: the original lease carried no cost to the city, and Fonner Park will pay to make the improvements and to maintain the public parking lot during the lease term.

Council President Sheard asked whether the change was prompted by potential expansion of state fair buildings; McAloon replied the change responded to concerns that the long lease (described in the meeting as a 50-year lease with five-year renewals) had no mechanism to allow the state fair or Fonner Park to expand in the future without a way to relocate parking. McAloon described the replacement-parking requirement in the amendment as requiring "equivalent replacement parking" in the same quantity as removed; she said equivalent parking must be paved, lit and "within approximately the same distance from the Fonner Park/State Fair campus as the existing parking lot," and must allow parking for the same term as the agreement.

Council Member Nickerson asked whether the state fair was comfortable with the proposal; the council called forward a speaker identified only as "Jamie," who said, "The state fair was involved in conversations early on and I think this amendment will make the state fair very comfortable moving forward with the lease as presented." The council then voted; a motion to approve the amendment was moved (mover not specified on the record) and seconded by Council Member Lanfear. The motion was announced as adopted. The transcript does not record a roll-call tally.

The amendment does not specify exact replacement parking locations; McAloon said available replacement spots could be found if needed and that some replacement parking could be vertical (stacked/structured), but the requirement is that replacement spots be equivalent in quantity and meet the pavement, lighting and proximity standards spelled out in the amendment.

The item was presented to the council as agenda item 6(a). No other fiscal commitments by the city were announced during the discussion.

Council members did not identify further changes to the lease during the meeting; public-record copies of the executed amendment were not read into the record during the discussion.