Horseshoe Bend Parkway Extension TDD Gains Approval

By Justin Ludwig/Lake Sun

LAKE OZARK — The Horseshoe Bend Parkway Extension project made headway last week as a Miller County judge approved the formation of a transportation development district.

The Horseshoe Bend TDD will help fund the project with a 25-year, one-percent sales tax expected to be approved by the district’s board of directors.

The board will be formed May 11 when members of the Stanton Trust and the Briscoe Group, owners of the property within the district, elect five directors to serve staggered three-year terms.

In addition to the directors, appointees from Lake Ozark and the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission will serve as non-voting advisors to the TDD board.

The tax would help fund the two-mile Parkway extension which will connect Route HH at Business Highway 54 to the Osage Beach Expressway, which MoDOT will build in the next six years. It could also help fund the extension’s connection to the Community Bridge, and pay for upgrades to adjacent side streets.

Once completed, the extension would connect to the expressway with a proposed new interchange near the Osage River.

The new lifeline through “the heart of Lake Ozark” would “let the cork out of the bottle” for the city, Lake Ozark City Administrator Charles Clark said.

Originally, the interchange was planned to connect Lake Ozark to the expressway at the south end of Business Highway 54, near the Denny’s Restaurant. The new location would open up acres of land for new commercial and residential development, Trust Administrator George Stanton said.

“That’s why the city is so strong on this project,” Stanton said.

Approximately 750 acres in the city’s interior is being planned for development with the parkway extension, Horseshoe Bend Development, LLC, president Bill Kuhlow said.

Kuhlow said that his development company has been hired by the Stanton Trust to act as a consultant on the project and assist with the development of the trust’s portion of the district — approximately 450 acres. The Briscoe group owns approximately 100 acres in the district.

The remaining 200 acres of the development project are outside of the TDD, but is adjacent to the Trust’s land. According to Kuhlow, Ron Armitage is in contract with AmerenUE to purchase the acres, which are located below the Bagnell Dam and include the American Legion Post 229.

The total finance package for the project has not yet been finalized, Kuhlow said.

We’re “trying to put everything together ... to make the Horseshoe Bend extension” a reality, Stanton said. The developer said he was optimistic.

Contact this reporter at justin@lakesunleader.com