ORDINANCE NO. 260609
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Sponsor: Committee of Petitioners
Amending Chapter 74, Code of Ordinances, by enacting a new Section 74-401, prohibiting City officers, agents, and employees from implementing, advancing, furthering, or fostering any plan to design or construct, with material support from the City, a stadium, arena, or similar venue, with a seating capacity of 2,500 or more, for use by a for-profit business, or ancillary development or certain necessary infrastructure support for that stadium, arena, or similar venue, except by ordinance submitted to and approved by the voters; recognizing this ordinance as having an accelerated effective date; and including a severability clause.
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WHEREAS, a committee of petitioners has submitted an initiative petition seeking to enact an ordinance that would prohibit the City from implementing or otherwise advancing a plan to design or construct a stadium, arena or similar venue with a seating capacity of 2,500 or more for use by a for-profit business, including ancillary development or infrastructure support, except by ordinance submitted to and approved by the voters; and
WHEREAS, the City Clerk certified that the petition contains sufficient signatures to engage the City Charter process; and
WHEREAS, the City Clerk made no finding or certification on any other issue concerning the petition or the legislation proposed in the petition; and
WHEREAS, Section 702 of the City Charter provides that if a petition is found to contain sufficient signatures, the City Clerk “shall certify and submit the ordinance set forth therein to the Council at its next meeting;” and
WHEREAS, this ordinance proposed by a committee of petitioners is hereby submitted to the City Council by the City Clerk pursuant to Section 702 of the City Charter; NOW, THEREFORE,
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI:
Section l. That Chapter 74, Code of Ordinances of the City of Kansas City, Missouri, is hereby amended by enacting a new Section 74-401, prohibiting City officers, agents, and employees from implementing, advancing, furthering, or fostering any plan to design or construct, with material support from the City, a stadium, arena, or similar venue, with a seating capacity of 2,500 or more, for use by a for-profit business, or ancillary development or certain necessary infrastructure support for that stadium, arena, or similar venue, except by ordinance submitted to and approved by the voters, to read as follows:
Sec. 74-401. Plans to design or construct, with material support from the City, a stadium, arena, or similar venue, with a seating capacity of 2,500 or more, for use by a for-profit business, or ancillary development or certain necessary infrastructure support.
(a) Except as provided in this Section, any and all City officers, agents, and employees are prohibited from in any way implementing, advancing, furthering, or fostering any plan to design or construct, with material support from the City, a stadium, arena, or similar venue, with a seating capacity of 2,500 or more, for use by a for-profit business, or ancillary development or necessary infrastructure support for that stadium, area, or similar venue.
(b) For any city officer, agent, or employee to implement, advance, further, or foster any plan to design or construct, with material support from the City, a stadium, arena, or similar venue, with a seating capacity of 2,500 or more, for use by a for-profit business, or ancillary development or necessary infrastructure support for that stadium, arena, or similar venue, that plan must first by ordinance be submitted to the voters in an election and be approved by a majority of voters in that election. The City Council shall submit an ordinance for that purpose to the voters at the next available municipal or state election held not less than thirty (30) days after such submission by the Council for which the City can lawfully provide required notices to the election authorities without seeking a court order.
(c) Any person who violates this Section shall be guilty of an ordinance violation, punishable by a fine of five hundred dollars ($500.00). Each day on which a violation of this Section occurs shall be a separate and distinct violation.
(d) The restrictions, obligations, and prohibitions of this Section do not apply to any plan to design or construct, exclusively with private, federal, state, and/or county funding, and not with material support from the City, a stadium, arena, or similar venue, with a seating capacity of 2,500 or more, for use by a for-profit business, or ancillary development or necessary infrastructure support for that stadium, arena, or similar venue.
(e) For purposes of this Section,
(i) "For-profit business" includes a for-profit corporation, limited liability company, limited partnership, limited liability partnership, sole proprietorship, joint venture, and any other organization with an objective of making a profit or generating income such as for owners, investors, shareholders, and/or members.
(ii) "Material support from the City" includes funds from the General Fund or any other Fund, bonds issued by the City (directly or through a conduit issuer), tax revenues, frozen tax rates, tax exemptions, tax abatements, and any other benefit or incentive from the City to encourage development. "Material support from the City" also includes support, backing, assistance, or provision through, by, or involving the sale, lease, gift, conveyance, or other disposal of any real property owned by the City or any agency or instrumentality of the City which is principally used or held out for use as a park.
(iii) "Necessary infrastructure support" includes construction of new streets, expansion of streets, parking facilities, and parking garages, but does not include pedestrian bridges, transportation access, bike lanes, utility upgrades, traffic improvements, and similar projects.
(f) This section does not prohibit the planning necessary to operate existing city infrastructure and city parks or to appropriately make a decision to seek voter approval for a plan to design or construct, with material support from the City, a stadium, arena, or similar venue, with a seating capacity of 2,500 or more, for use by a for-profit business, or ancillary development or necessary infrastructure support for that stadium, arena, or similar venue.
(g) This section shall not be interpreted, applied, or enforced so as to violate any rights under, or to conflict with, the City Charter, state law, the state constitution, federal law, or the federal constitution.
Section 2. That this Ordinance, relating to the design, repair, maintenance or construction of a public improvement, is recognized as an ordinance with an accelerated effective date as provided by Section 503(a)(3)(D) of the City Charter and shall take effect in accordance with that section.
Section 3. That the provisions of this Ordinance are severable. In the event any provision of this Ordinance (including any phrase, sentence, paragraph, subsection, or section) is determined to be invalid, the remaining provisions shall not be affected thereby.
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Approved as to form:
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Sarah Baxter
Senior Associate City Attorney