Lancaster County approves land swaps with Lincoln to enable multimodal center and convention center; sheriff and staff raise parking concerns

The Lancaster County Board of Commissioners on June 16 approved a series of real estate transactions and related agreements with the City of Lincoln intended to enable a multimodal transportation center and to support development of the Lancaster County Convention Center.

The package (items 7A–7F) included a resolution authorizing the county board chair to execute documents to comply with a real estate purchase agreement (7A), a sale of multiple lots and a vacated east‑west alley (7B), a petition to vacate H Street between 9th and 10th Streets (7C), purchase agreements for other lots (7D, 7E), and a parking agreement with the City of Lincoln to provide temporary and permanent parking for drug‑testing participants (7F). Each item passed by unanimous roll call.

Terry Wagner, Lancaster County Sheriff, urged the board not to approve the sale in a public comment during the 7B discussion, saying the county-owned parking lot to the south is heavily used by employees and that moving the downtown bus hub could shift disturbances to the proposed multimodal location: "I think this is going to be a huge disruption for our employees...The parking that they use every day...is going to be terribly disruptive." Wagner said he had previously sent a letter to the board on the matter.

Commissioners acknowledged the sheriff's concerns. Commissioner Sean Flowerday said he had heard similar concerns from Lincoln police and law enforcement and that relocating transit hubs can concentrate activity; Commissioner Matt Schultz said the board had negotiated the swap to obtain another parking lot and believed the outcome was the best available under the circumstances. Chair Christy Yocum said the negotiations began years earlier and emphasized community safety, additional parking to the north of the complex, and efforts to mitigate employee impacts.

County staff and commissioners noted that the land swaps are intended to relocate the bus hub and make room for multimodal services adjacent to other county services, and that a parking agreement (approved as item 7F) is intended to secure temporary and permanent parking for people using county drug-testing services and for county operations. At the public-comment period after the votes, two Lancaster County Sheriff's Office employees—Sarah Sump and Lisa Cook—said county staff will now face new parking costs of about $300–$400 per year and pleaded for a solution: "We've never had to pay to work here...Now all of our staff...is now going to have to shell out another almost $400 a year to come work here," Sump said.

The board passed the land-sale and parking measures. Commissioners said they will continue to work to reduce disruptions for employees and support services that keep people out of jail, but they concluded the negotiated exchanges were the best outcome available to advance the multimodal and convention‑center projects.

Next procedural steps: the recorded motions authorize the chair to execute documents and implement the land swaps; county and city staff will complete parcel transfers and finalize parking arrangements according to the approved agreements.