Letter to Residents
From the Office of the City Manager
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Sugar Land Today | August '10 - September '10 Issue
As part of the City Council’s vision of creating destinations within the City to strengthen Sugar Land’s overall economic sustainability, we are now in the final planning stages of a minor league baseball stadium.
The City has actively pursued this vision for many years after entering into a $3.5-million, 100-year Ground Lease for 52 acres with the University of Houston System at Sugar Land (UHS) in 2005. This agreement gave the City the right to construct entertainment facilities such as a minor league ballpark and outlined how they could meet a higher education purpose.
Progress on the entertainment facilities continued with the help of the Visioning Task Force in 2007 and was bolstered when voters overwhelmingly approved four ballot propositions in November 2008. With the approval of the community clearly expressed, the City solicited statements of interest late in 2009 for the development of a minor league baseball stadium and entered into exclusive negotiations with Opening Day Partners (ODP) in February 2010.
In May 2010, we began work to select the final stadium location. Since signing the Ground Lease with UHS new university leadership had begun to question the previously agreed upon uses. As a result of these questions, and in order to provide the City with the greatest economic benefit, we initiated proposals for other ballpark sites and selected Imperial Sugar / Tract 3 as the preferred location in June 2010. Though we believe the Imperial site will ultimately be more successful for minor league baseball, the City remains committed to partnering with the University to use the UHS lease site for other mutually beneficial purposes.
The final stadium location is anticipated to be at the northeast corner of State Hwy. 6 and U.S. 90A, just north of Oyster Creek. The City has committed to residents, however, that – no matter where the stadium was located – it would not negatively impact our quality of life. We are currently completing due diligence investigations before making a final recommendation to the City Council in early September. These investigations will follow through on the City’s commitment that there will be no degradation of quality of life – including noise, lighting, traffic and public safety. Additionally, we will analyze the site’s geotechnical conditions and ensure no conflicts will exist due to the proximity of the Sugar Land Regional Airport.
Regardless of its new location, the ballpark will still be completely funded without an increase in sales or property tax rates. In November 2008, voters approved ballot propositions to provide additional funding mechanisms for the proposed entertainment district through venue taxes and the Sugar Land Development Corporation; additionally, the SL4B Corporation has always had the ability to fund such projects and was therefore not included on the ballot. Though location was not included in any propositions, out of an abundance of caution we have chosen not to use these additional mechanisms outside of the originally proposed 1,000-acre entertainment district. Instead, we will fund the stadium entirely through the SL4B, which was not impacted by the vote, and the other funding tools will remain available for future venues such as an indoor concert hall and a festival site.
While this is clearly a complex process with many moving parts, all partners remain hard at work in anticipation of the excitement and celebration we will all share in on Opening Day 2012!