Nebraska lawmaker who championed good life districts law criticizes rollout

GRETNA, Nebraska — When State Sen. Lou Ann Linehan proposed legislation to create good life districts two years ago, she envisioned the result would be a Nebraska tourist magnet akin to Kansas City’s Legends retail complex or Minnesota’s Mall of America.

Inspiring her, she said, was businessman Rod Yates’ dream to build a sports-retail-entertainment mecca around the existing Nebraska Crossing shopping center he owns in Gretna, between the state’s two largest cities, Omaha and Lincoln.

To enable such a quest, Linehan secured an unprecedented state incentive as part of the Good Life Transformational Projects Act: The legislation calls for the state sales tax in the target area to be cut from 5.5% to 2.75%, with the expectation that giving up millions in state revenue would help finance unique job- and tourism-creating development that pays off more over time.

But two key drivers of the Good Life Act say they are disappointed in how the law and a subsequent update are playing out. Yates’ plan appears deadlocked with the Gretna City Council, and Linehan now fears that she let language slip by that could allow Gretna and a handful of Nebraska cities to use the state incentive in ways she didn’t intend — boosting projects that are less spectacular than one-of-a-kind.

City officials in Gretna say they are simply protecting taxpayers by requiring financial accountability for developers, and that they still expect transformational feats in the district, but perhaps with a focus on multiple property owners instead of just one.

Linehan’s concerns come as Gretna is in the midst of a Jan. 14 special mail-in election that will affect the largest and highest-profile of the four good life districts so far approved by the state. The election won’t resolve the lawmaker’s qualms, nor is it a determination on any one developer or project, but an affirmative vote is needed to allow the city to fully tap into the state incentive.

“It’s a mess,’ said Linehan, the term-limited chair of the Legislature’s Revenue Committee who is officially out of office by mid-week. “I don’t know where it got off the tracks, but somebody needs to step in front of the train.”

Fifth and last district to come

Under the good life district law, the Nebraska Department of Economic Development was tasked with approving up to five good life districts statewide. So far the DED has approved four — in the cities of Gretna, Omaha, Bellevue and Grand Island.

The deadline to apply passed at the end of the year, with Kearney and Papillion the two contenders for the final designation.

Applicants must meet certain criteria, including providing the state a description of the proposed project, an estimate of total new development costs and jobs, financial documentation and potential impact on the state during the 30-year duration of the district.

But the law also allows most of that information in the applications to remain secret from the public, except for the project’s location and estimations of total cost and new jobs.

DED director K.C. Belitz said host cities have broad power to guide a good life district once his agency approves an application and geographic boundaries. He said the state steps in at 3-year, 7-year and 10-year marks to review progress and ensure that districts have met certain investment-related benchmarks. The state could move to terminate the district and incentive if benchmarks aren’t reached at those points, Belitz said.

Linehan told the Nebraska Examiner that she has questions about how all good life districts operate, but she is focused first on Gretna, which is in the midst of the mail-in election that would trigger the way for the city to re-channel the forfeited state revenue toward private development.

As it stands now, Yates, whose application created the Gretna good life district, is at odds with city officials over terms of his proposal.

The City Council in November rejected his set of demands to carry out his multibillion-dollar venture after city advisers said they presented financial, legal and market risks. Among the Yates’ team’s proposed terms: reduce the city’s portion of sales tax within the district and approve tax-increment financing and occupation taxes as requested. The city’s attorney said the terms also call for potential use of eminent domain on properties within the district Yates does not own if owners refuse to sell within 10% above appraised value.

Gretna officials have also said an advisory committee and the City Council will consider extending the good life benefit to other property owners within the district — beyond just Yates.

DED officials say that is allowed under the law, but Linehan is worried that such a scenario opens the door to the public incentive being used to help finance district development and public infrastructure projects that are less than “transformational.”

Yates has said success of his vision — and related financing — is predicated on him owning and controlling the entire district. He said he has secured retailers and partner developers that could grow the district beyond the 2,000 acres currently approved, and up to a $5 billion, 4,500 acre-campus. City officials have said he owns but a slice of the district currently, though Yates said he has talked to all property owners about the possibility of purchasing their land.

Yates told the Examiner he is so frustrated with Gretna leaders that he is considering ‘terminating” his district application with the state and seeking someone to introduce new legislation to help fulfill his “mega transformational sports and real estate ecosystem.”

“The process has been flawed from the beginning with the City of Gretna seeking to reimagine the bill to take control for its own financial gain,” Yates said.

Linehan said she apparently was not paying enough attention to a “clean up” bill that the Legislature passed in 2024 which provided more city control in good life districts. Added was the requirement for a local election before the state benefits could be fully used. If Gretna voters say yes in the special election, the city would establish an “economic development program” that guides the good life district and steer the forfeited state sales tax toward development efforts.

“Shame on me,” Linehan said. “But something is very wrong here.”

Gretna leaders optimistic

Meanwhile, Gretna officials said they remain eager about the possibility of new tourist magnets rising. Mayor Mike Evans said multiple developers and property owners have shown interest in launching a venture, and he welcomes more voices and collaboration for such an important swath of mostly agricultural land near Interstate 80 and Highway 31 and between Omaha and Lincoln.

Drew Snyder, founder and owner of Woodsonia Real Estate, said his group would like to develop “destination retail” on land it owns in the district. He declined to provide details just yet. While Snyder would like to see a Yates project in the district, he wants autonomy and control of any future Woodsonia project site.

Woodsonia has led various housing and mixed-use projects in Omaha, including the Top Golf entertainment venue. Woodsonia also is the state-approved applicant for Grand Island’s 875-acre good life district near the former Veterans Home campus and encompassing the Conestoga Marketplace.

Mick Mulhall, whose family owns property in the Gretna good life district, said they are intrigued at the possibility of building something to add to the transformation. He said the Mulhalls prefer a more collective district guided by the city.

Craig Wolf said he and his wife, Tiffani, are Gretna residents who hope to close on about 34 acres of city-owned land near the good life district. He foresees it as a potential home for a new $107 million commercial campus focused on competitive cheer events and including a basketball facility, hotels and conventions. He hopes also to create a retail area with regional appeal.

While the property currently is outside the designated good life boundaries, Wolf’s lawyer said the city has the ability to expand the district and thereby extend the incentive.

“This will turn heads,” Wolf said of his expansion plan.

Gretna city officials have said they are prohibited from influencing the special election and have provided limited public responses.

But the consensus from all involved is that Gretna has a particularly complicated good life district — in part because of its size and that roughly 50 distinct property owners are within the designated boundaries.

“There are many property owners within Gretna’s good life district, and many possible development ideas in the area,” says a frequently-asked-questions piece on the City of Gretna’s website. “Neither the city nor any one property owner knows exactly how development in the good life district will proceed and what will be constructed.”

Omaha, Grand Island voters spoke

Voters in Omaha and Grand Island have already given approval to allow the host cities to create economic development programs to guide development in respective good life districts.

Omaha’s plan calls for developer Curt Hofer to use the state incentive to help build out the 200-acre Avenue One district, which anticipates luring $1.4 billion in investment and 4,083 jobs.

Woodsonia foresees more than $750 million in new investment within the Grand Island district and 300,000 out-of-state visitors a year.

In Bellevue, the applicant for a 575-acre good life district is the City of Bellevue, not a private developer. The biggest draws will be either city-owned or city-supported projects centered around a water park and resort-style recreation area near Highways 75 and 34.

Since the city won’t be remitting any tax revenue collection to a private developer, there is no need for a special election, Bellevue officials have said. They plan to use occupation taxes assessed in the district to capture the eliminated state sales tax and help the city pay for infrastructure and amenities.

Gretna officials said they seek a positive outcome under complex circumstances.

Exacerbating tension there is that since April, the state sales tax in the Gretna good life district has been reduced, as was called for in the law. But the money is not yet going to the district.

The “clean up” legislation to the original Good Life Transformational Projects Act required the local vote to create the local program to guide development. More specifically, cities could impose a replacement tax to essentially re-channel the portion of the reduced state sales tax to assist development efforts.

Evans and others said there has been much confusion over the Jan. 14 election. He and other city officials have said the vote is on an “economic tool” and doesn’t promote any one project or developer. If passed, the mayor has said, Gretna would create the mechanism to collect the portion of the state sales tax that was reduced and “put it in a bucket” for projects within the district that are approved.

Since April, shoppers at the Nebraska Crossing stores effectively have gotten a discount on transactions as the portion of the state sales tax that was reduced went uncollected.

A Gretna chamber official has said in public documents that about $300,000 to $500,000 is forfeited monthly in tax revenue. State records obtained by the Examiner showed that from April through August, the state had forgone about $1.3 million from transactions in the Gretna district.

Former State Sen. Burke Harr, Wolf’s attorney, said an affirmative Jan. 14 vote would trigger a way for the city to capture that revenue in the future. Otherwise, he said, “It evaporates. It just is not collected.”

Linehan said she won’t be in the Legislature this year and is uncertain of her next steps. She views the law she championed as “problematic.”

“I drove to the Legends in Kansas City — I wanted to look at it,” she said. “I was very excited and hopeful.”