And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: Date: Sun, 18 Apr 1999 02:29:55 -0500 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Apr. 18, 1999, Oz developers have issued an ultimatum to the Kansas Legislature: Oz park breaks called a must. Now we will see who controls the Kansas Legislatures? Notice the Federal Government (President Clinton) is now in the clean up business aka "Push it out the door"!!!! Jimmie D. Oyler, Principal Chief United Tribe of Shawnee Indians ***************************************** http://www.ljworld.com/ Updated 1:33:23 AM Sunday, April 18, 1999 Oz developers have issued an ultimatum to the Kansas Legislature: Produce more tax breaks or the deal is off. By Mike Shields Journal-World Writer Topeka -- If lawmakers don't approve additional tax breaks for the proposed Wonderful World of Oz theme park when they return to session later this month, then the whole deal is off, a spokesman for Oz developers said. "It's a deal-breaker," said Oz attorney Larry Winn III. "We've told everybody that and made no bones about it. There's no Plan B." Lawmakers last year approved about $270 million in 20-year, state-authorized bonds for the $700-million planned resort, allowing Oz to retire the debt by collecting a 5.9 percent sales tax at the park. The state also is negotiating with federal officials for the 9,062-acre mothballed Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant near DeSoto. The state wants to give the property to Oz developers in exchange for assurances developers will clean up pollution there. This year Oz came back asking lawmakers to approve a 30-year maturity on the bonds and an additional 1-percent, on-site sales tax authority to service them. But before lawmakers left for break on April 10 the House refused to OK the Oz legislation, although members will have opportunity to do so when they return to Topeka for the wrap-up session that begins April 28. Winn said he is confident the bill ultimately will pass. "I don't think it's gummed up," he said. "What they did, like they frequently do, is hold certain bills hostage for something they want." Winn said some legislators have told him the House is holding up the bill hoping for Senate approval of a legislative pay raise as ransom. Environmental concerns Winn also said lawmakers shouldn't worry about U.S. Environmental Protection Agency concerns with fraudulent environmental assessments of pollution at the site because the Oz developers intend to do their own. "That's an EPA issue," he said. "It is of no substantial consequence to us because we would never have relied on a government report in any event. We're doing our own due diligence and are well down the road in that process." Nor, he said, should lawmakers fall for "scare tactics" of the Kansas Sierra Club, which is pushing to defeat the bill, citing concerns about potential state liability for cleanup costs at the site if the Oz park goes down the tubes before remediation is complete. Winn said the Clinton administration has directed EPA not to enforce liability provisions of federal law when it concerns polluted surplus defense sites. "There's a policy issued in June 1997 that in effect says we want to do everything we can to encourage redevelopment of these defense facilities," Winn said. "And as a result EPA will not bring actions to enforce" these types of liabilities. "It's national policy. They don't want the type of tactics that Sierra Club is trying to trot up the pole keeping government or private entities from tackling Sunflower-type projects." Transfer in motion Meanwhile, negotiations on the transfer of Sunflower from the federal to state government continue to progress, said a spokeswoman for Kansas Development Finance Authority, which is handling the Oz deal for the state. "We were in Washington last week, and we thought we made progress on substantive parts of the deal," said KDFA lawyer Rebecca Floyd. Floyd said KDFA representatives met with those from the U.S. General Services Administration and the Army. "The negotiations are moving along tracks that are independent of the underlying legislation," Floyd said. "Both the enabling and amending legislation deal with finances. Frankly, we're not even talking about bonds at this point. The bigger issues are the environmental issues and the insurance products that must be in place before KDFA would even consider having Kansas in the chain of title. We're resolving these kinds of issues and would have to settle them regardless of the legislation." There are still other legal bumps in the road for Oz developers. Jimmie Oyler of rural DeSoto in February filed suit in federal district court claiming the Sunflower site rightfully belongs not to the state or Oz but the United Tribe of Shawnee Indians. Next court date on the case is May 7. Floyd said that under the best of circumstances it is unlikely the state would be ready to accept the land from the federal government and then immediately transfer it to Oz any earlier than August. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
