October 11, 2023, Lake Ozark Planning and Zoning Commission meeting at 5:00 p.m.

I attended the October 11, 2023, Lake Ozark Planning and Zoning Commission meeting at 5:00 p.m.

The agenda for this meeting was for discussion and possible action regarding the site plan submitted by Alpha Engineering for the Toy Box development located at the intersection of HH and Bagnell Dam Boulevard. This was the same project I wrote about previously here regarding the Horseshoe Bend Special Road District.

The meeting room was pretty packed, and I was lucky to arrive early enough to get one of the few remaining seats. I could definitely feel some tension in the room since it seemed that there were supporters present for either side of this issue.

Before any discussion started, two members of the Commission, Mayor Dennis Newberry and Ethan Shackelford, recused themselves. Newberry is the realtor for the Toy Box development project, and I believe Shackelford works for Alpha Engineering.

The meeting started with an Open Forum.

The City Attorney kicked things off with a statement that, while some local media outlets had reported that this project would be associated with a TIF (Tax Increment Financing), a CID (Community Improvement District), or a TDD (Transportation Development District), that was not correct and none of those financing mechanisms apply to this project. He also mentioned that any complaints regarding the blasting that was occurring at the development would be outside the purview of the Planning and Zoning Commission.

The Chairman of the Commission reminded everyone that they would have 5 minutes each to speak.

Mary Boer addressed the Commission first. She is the property owner at Blue Heron Hill. Her property is adjacent to the Toy Box development. Back in June or July, she was contacted by Kevin Luttrell, the Horseshoe Bend Special Road District (HBSRD) Administrator. Luttrell told her that the Toy Box developers were willing to give her a new entrance. He said that her culvert was rusted out and the guardrails by her entrance were unsafe. Boer showed a photo of the inside of the culvert under her driveway to the audience.

After this initial conversation, she met with Scott Frisella and Doug Apperson, two of the Toy Box developers, at the HBSRD office. This meeting was when she was first informed that they intended to use her entrance as their entrance.

Boer explained that the developers were using the debris from the blasting to fill in and raise the elevation of their lot to be level with the entrance to her property. She was concerned that the blasting was dumping rock and dirt into the lake and posed a safety hazard to boats that might get too close to the cliff face. She showed the crowd a video of the debris falling in to the lake from her phone.

Michael Elliott spoke next. He is the realtor for Mary Boer. He had met with a buyer who was interested in building a 300-unit hotel on her property, but they were not interested in buying the property if the entrance was going to be shared with the Toy Box development. Elliott expressed safety and traffic concerns with the planned location of the entrance. He felt the gate to the development would back up trailer traffic while they waited to enter.

Elliott asked the City Attorney about zoning changes that had been approved for the Toy Box property. The City Attorney confirmed that the lower section of the Toy Box property was zoned R-3. Elliott complained that when people think of R-3 zoning, they assumed that the development would be condominiums. Nobody anticipated they would be storage units. There were no permits issued by Lake Ozark. He felt that permits should have been at least required for the work performed on the drain box on the property.

Missy Pinkel came up to speak. She was concerned about the aesthetics of the development. Pinkel was opposed to “toy caves” that people would live in and expressed concern that they would be used as short term rentals. She felt that shops and a park would be a better fit for the area. She also questioned how the water and sewage services would be provided to the 200 units of the development? She mentioned the potential conflicts of interest, not specifying what those were, but you could probably figure out what she meant by looking at the recusals for this meeting.

Mary Boer interjected that her Blue Heron property has three wells and shares a sewage lift station with the Cedar Crest subdivision.

Doug Apperson, one of the developers on this project, spoke after Pinkel. Apperson had a gravelly voice and looked like a Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant transported straight from the beaches of Iwo Jima. He gave one the impression that it might be safer to quit rather than show up for work late at his job site.

He stated that the traffic control issue had been addressed with the HBSRD. The developers had worked with Lake Ozark Public Works regarding the water and sewer needs for the development. There was plenty of sewage capacity that could be accessed on the other side of the parkway.

The site of the development was a ravine for the last 25 years. The developers decided to develop the site themselves because they couldn’t sell it. No buyers wanted anything to do with it because it would have cost too much money for the fill and the infrastructure. There were no TIF’s on the project. The property and the development would be privately funded. He stressed that the issue before the Commission was simply the approval of their site plan. He felt they had met all of the criteria that the city required for approval.

Elliott asked if he could respond to something that Apperson had said? The Chairman stated that the meeting was not a debate. Elliott started to ask his question anyway, but then the Chairman hammered his gavel! That was a first for me, and I’ve been to hundreds of meetings. I mean, I know they’ve got a gavel, but I’ve never seen one hammered down like that. The Chairman told Elliott to ask Apperson the question outside. I mentally gave Mike Kolar an A+ for gavel usage.

Tom Fritzlen spoke next. He was an attorney from Kansas City representing Dave Stewart, who owns property across the lake from the development. He asked that the Commission table the matter so they could consider their options.

Susan Brown (an owner of Lodge of Four Seasons) came up to speak. She told the Commission that her father had developed the Horseshoe Bend with her husband, Peter. Their zoning of the area contributed to the beauty of the Horseshoe Bend. She was concerned with the safety aspects of the blasting and the traffic that the development would bring. Brown worried that access for emergency vehicles might be a problem.

Karen Elliott was next before the Commission. She worked for Michael Elliott’s real estate firm. She raised issues with the proposed shared entrance and asked why the other entrances to the Toy Box development weren’t being considered? She felt that the trailer traffic coming in to the development would be a safety issue. She requested that the Commission put the project on hold and consider it for a longer period. Karen Elliott thought it seemed odd that the mayor had made the applications for the zoning changes on the property. She felt that other uses for the property might bring in more revenue to the city.

Peter Brown (an owner of Lodge of the Four Seasons and developer) came forward after her. He recalled that with all of the developments he supervised, he always made sure that they kept the entryway to Horseshoe Bend pristine. He contrasted it to the way the entrance to KK looks, with billboards and such. He estimated that this intersection had the highest traffic count of any intersection in the tri-county area. Brown was also upset that the developers had blasted off the top of the cliffs. Brown questioned how the developers could make money from the project with the costs they had already assumed.

The City Attorney asked Peter Brown if he had ever owned the Toy Box development property? Brown confirmed that he had owned it in the past.

Andy Prewitt walked up to the podium to address the Commission (If you can’t tell, I’m running out of ways to describe how people can come up and talk…).

Prewitt said he is not associated with this project, but he is in favor of it. The property was always going to be tough to develop, and he appreciated the effort and risk the developers were taking to grade that property. He stressed that property rights were important and, when developers follow all of the correct procedures, they should be allowed to develop those properties.

Prewitt told the Commission that he has seen the Lodge of the Four Seasons and the Brown family stifle development in this area for the last 50 years. They had done this to Hammon’s development that was faced with a lawsuit and the eventual death of the developer, Shady Gators, Lazy Gators, and other properties up and down HH. According to Prewitt, “Time kills all deals.” Other developers had gone broke trying to develop the Toy Box property. He felt the current developers deserved a chance to develop it and urged them not to delay it.

Yikes! Prewitt basically fired a broadside right into the Brown family, calling them out publicly.

Maggie Moe spoke after Prewitt. She introduced herself as a board member of the Four Seasons POA. She expressed how much she loved the Horseshoe Bend community. Moe complained about how bad the traffic had become. She warned the Commission that this project might awake “a sleeping giant” in the Horseshoe Bend community.

This concluded the Open Forum. This moment was punctuated by some more strong gavel hammering by the Chairman.

The Staff Report was then presented by the City Administrator.

City Administrator Harrison Fry stated that city staff felt the site plan was compliant with standards of development, the developers had submitted all 15 criteria for site plan submittal, and they demonstrated compliance with setback and parking regulations for the development.

The two conditions for any approval would be that the applicants should submit a plat amendment and make right-of-way transfer agreements with both the HBSRD and Lake Ozark.

Fry explained that the developers had pulled appropriate permits from the county and state to allow for land disturbance. All of the regulatory entities contacted by Fry felt that the developers’ actions satisfied their requirements. City water capacity and sewage capacity was more than sufficient to handle the new development.

The Commission had some questions about the zoning on the property. Some areas were zoned C-2, but Fry stated that the C-2 allows R-3 development as well. Fry was then asked about parking requirements, and he explained that the city required two parking spots per unit. Fry clarified that the project planned for approximately 206 units.

One Commission member asked why the developers didn’t present architectural drawings of the project?

Lee Schuman, the project engineer, presented the plans to the Commission. He explained that he was responsible for the layout for the site plan. Each unit is 25 ft by 60 ft. Two parking spots will be in the front of each unit. There is a maximum capacity of 207 units on the property. It is possible that a buyer could buy multiple units and combine them into a single larger unit.

The development will tap into the water main along Bagnell Dam Boulevard. They will run a new water main with two fire hydrants per building. There is an existing sewer pump station across Horseshoe Bend Parkway that they will connect with.

The Commission asked who approved the entrance to the development? Lee Schuman stated again that he had designed it.

Schuman explained to the Planning and Zoning Commission that the HBSRD limits the number of entrances on the parkway, and stressed that most entrances to the main parkway would be shared. Schuman designed the entrance so that it would allow a wide turning radius for trucks with trailers. The entirety of the entrance is included in the right-of-way for the parkway, deeded by warranty and title.

The Commission asked about the security gate for the development? Apperson explained that the security gate will be far enough back into the property so that any vehicles waiting at the gate for access won’t block the Blue Heron entrance.

Schuman clarified that the alleyways between the buildings are planned to be 100 feet wide to give plenty of room for folks to maneuver their trailers into the overhead doors of their units

(Mrs. Gadfly would say I need more than 100 feet, but what does she know?).

The Commission again asked for architectural designs. Apperson explained that their first goal was to get their site plan approved. The developers did not want to put any more money into the project until they received their site plan permit. Apperson was asked about covenants and HOA requirements for the project? Apperson said that buyers will not be able to rent their units to others.

A commissioner asked Apperson why they decided to develop this particular type of project on this type of property? He responded that they funded this project themselves. With a project like this, there is a certain amount of financial risk. The Four Seasons POA has strict rules for parking boats and RV’s on properties within their boundaries. Apperson felt there was a need and desire for a property like this one.

(There is a certain irony in the fact that the strict rules of the Four Seasons POA actually increased the financial advantage of building an RV/Toy storage area just outside their clutches. On their literal doorstep.)

Lee Schuman said he was willing to stay after the meeting and answer any design questions people wanted to ask.

Several members of the Planning and Zoning Commission expressed that they were there simply to decide if this project met the requirements of the City of Lake Ozark. They weren’t there to decide whether they liked the type of project or not. It was clarified with members of the audience that any approval by the Commission would be conditional upon the developers meeting the stipulations described in the Staff Report.

The site plan was then approved unanimously by a roll call vote.

And that was that.