Branson struck by Spirit of 76

The city of Branson is known to have a flair for all things Americana. Perhaps it should come as no surprise that on Aug. 12 the city’s Board of Aldermen threw its support behind the master plan for an $80 million streetscape project dubbed the Spirit of 76.

Branson Economic Development Director Garrett Anderson said the resolution approved by the aldermen sends a message to businesses up and down the strip that the city supports the plans and is taking steps to upgrade the 76 Country Boulevard experience for Branson’s more than 7 million annual visitors.  

“I feel like this is a project where everybody immediately sees the value of it,” he said.

On Aug. 27, the board held a special meeting to explore financing options with the developer.

Plan and deliver
Streetscape improvements have been in the works since 2010, when the community known for its theaters, restaurants and hotels began its long-term planning process under the moniker Community Plan 2030.

“We had well over 2,000 participants in the community plan. A lot of that was from surveying of local businesses and local employees, a lot of public meetings and private interviews with different community leaders and stakeholders,” Anderson said. “One of the main things that rose to the top in terms of priorities was to see investment on 76.”

He said business and community participants broadly expressed a need to revitalize the roughly five-mile, aging strip of highway that routinely backs up with traffic in the summertime.

“‘Tired’ was a word I believe they used a lot,” Anderson said, speaking to the look and feel of the strip, where much of the property development took place in the late 1980s and early ’90s.

In late 2012, city leaders selected Kansas City-based Cook, Flatt & Strobel Engineers Inc. to develop plans for improving the foot traffic on 76 Country Boulevard, among other goals. CFS project engineer Sabin Yanez said the company, which has since established an office in Branson, now has well over a year’s worth of work invested in the project.

“It’s an extremely vehicle-dominated corridor. With all the attractions, you can see there is a strong desire for people to get out and walk, but the facilities don’t exist,” Yanez said. “We really aren’t changing the three-lane configuration for vehicles. What we are doing is, in essence, adding the lanes behind the curb where we are moving toward 15-foot multiuse pathways and pedestrian promenades that are much more integrated into storefronts, attraction fronts and businesses.

“We’re creating more of an environment where that five miles between 65 and Shepard of the Hills Expressway really becomes a destination unto and of itself – almost like a linear amusement park, if you will.”

Among the issues Anderson said CFS has been tasked with addressing is a reduction in the number of overhead electric lines that clutter the landscape. Other improvements include reducing the number of entrances and exits on 76 and creating areas for trolley stops and crosswalks. He said roughly a third of the five-mile strip comprises entrances and exits, but only three crosswalks exist.

“There are sections of the highway that have a traditional separated-from-the-road concrete sidewalk, but the majority of what’s out there is a 2- or 3-foot asphalt strip – not too much removed from a shoulder, really,” Anderson said. “It’s really insufficient for a family or even a couple to walk side by side along most of 76.

The plan calls for 15 additional crosswalks, wider sidewalks and fewer entrances and exits, all in anticipation of some 20,000 more pedestrians per day walking the strip, Anderson said.  

“I don’t think anybody is going to get up and walk all five miles to see a show, but if you’ve got a trolley that is going to break up that distance, now maybe there is only a quarter-mile to walk from one of those stops,” Anderson said.

Funding the fixes
Yanez said the aldermen’s vote of confidence opens the door for CFS to take a hard look with community leaders at project financing, beginning with a special session of the board last week.

“Our team brought a unique approach to the city when we were selected in that we brought in a national team of experts that have worked in tourist communities and have done innovative financing. We knew, from the city perspective, that you don’t want a master plan that sits on the shelf and collects dust,” he said. “You want a plan that’s implementable.”

Yanez said he led CFS’ presentation to the board, offering roughly 10 possible funding scenarios and tools.

With direction from city staff, he focused on three options that would generate millions of dollars in tax revenue annually through the creation of a Community Improvement District.

He said the failure of Amendment 1 at the polls Aug. 5 eliminated up to $12 million in cooperative state financing.

“But it’s not a deal-killer,” Anderson said, adding if the city takes responsibility for long-term maintenance of the road, the Missouri Department of Transportation could pay the municipality millions of dollars based on its realized savings over time.

The taxing level within the CID is being discussed at a 1/2-cent to a 1-cent tax. The middle-ground 3/4-cent proposal would generate more than $3 million a year, Yanez said, and could help supplement the city’s current tourism tax, which brings in nearly $8 million a year for capital projects.  

Yanez said CFS recommends the city utilize the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act program to secure an extended 35-year loan. TIFIA projects must have a minimum project cost of at least $50 million and a dedicated source of revenue – such as a CID – to repay the loan.

Yanez said construction would likely begin in fall 2015, and it would take around five years to complete – provided funding doesn’t stretch out implementation further.

“Business owners would like it done yesterday,” he said.[[In-content Ad]]