KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners is expected to vote Tuesday to move forward on a plan to build a new downtown stadium for the Royals.
Documents posted publicly on Monday show the board’s agenda includes an item authorizing City Manager Mario Vasquez to negotiate a lease with the Royals for a stadium at Washington Square Park.
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“No. I don’t think so,” Commissioner Pat Contreras said when asked if this vote Tuesday makes him nervous. “I also don’t think it’s luck or serendipity. It’s really a tribute to this city.”
Washington Square Park falls under the parks department’s oversight. It has its own separate five-member board within city government. That arm of the city is supposed to continue to own the stadium if the Royals move there.
“I have full confidence in our city manager and our city council and our mayor,” Contreras continued. “I think that this City Council and this leadership has the right vision for our city. They’re working together cohesively, collaboratively, to get things done for our city, and again, it’s about preserving long term benefit to our community, to park land, and to our parks system.”
The parks commissioners have a workshop at 12:30 Tuesday afternoon. Their board meeting starts at 2 pm. They meet at 4600 East 63rd Street.
Mayor Quinton Lucas revealed the plans for a downtown baseball stadium last week.
The $1.9 billion plan would include a new home for the Royals, as well as surrounding development.
The city of Kansas City would issue $600 million in bonds to help pay for stadium construction.
Those bonds would be repaid with what the mayor called “economic activity redirections from the stadium and surrounding development.”
The state of Missouri would also contribute to construction costs.
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The plan calls for the stadium to have at least 30,000 seats and for the Royals to use the stadium as their home for at least 30 years.
A Kansas City City Council committee is also expected to take a preliminary vote on the stadium proposal. The Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee meets at 10:30 at City Hall that morning. One of the five members on that committee is Crispin Rea. He’s one of nine co-sponsors of Lucas’ ordinance.
Monday afternoon, FOX4 learned that staff under Vasquez will be presenting at the meeting. Chief of Development Strategy Morgan Holecek and Assistant City Manager Tammy Queen will be presenting. Rea has one question he’s thinking about more than any other.
“How do we do this while protecting the taxpayer? We have to make sure we’re not putting the city’s finances at risk, the taxpayer at risk or our ability to deliver the things that are most important to our voters, and that is streets, sidewalks, those types of things,” Rea said.
Community members have two minutes to speak at both meetings.
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