SIDNEY -- A group of Sidney residents are petitioning the Sidney City Council to stop the sale of the former Cabela's building at 812 13th Ave.

According to Sidney City Manager David Scott, the 13th Avenue building, coined "Big Red" by Sidney residents, was appraised at $1,092,000. The Cheyenne County Assessor's Office said the building is 36,184 square feet.

Gary Brandt, MAI, CCIM Nebraska Certified General Appraiser, said in a written statement to Scott the market value of the fee simply interest of the subject properties "as is," as of the date of Jan. 25, 2023, was $1,092,000.

The building was purchased by the City of Sidney for about $1 million and leased to UST Global when the company announced its interest in moving to Sidney. Under the agreement between the City and UST Global, UST Global paid a lease enough to cover the cost of tax and maintenance, said Lane Kizzire, Sidney Finance Director.

In Sept. 2018, UST Global announced it would be leasing up to 65,000 square feet and adding up to 200 new jobs to the Sidney community. The business announced it would be restructuring and not renewing its lease in late 2022.

The Sidney City Council held public hearings on Aug. 8 and Aug. 22 regarding the potential purchase of the current World Trophy Adventures (WTA) building on Pole Creek Crossing. The agreement would also include the City of Sidney acquiring the parking lot south of "Big Red", WTA paying the City $150,000, and WTA forgiving the $275,000 balance of the LB840 agreement. 

Sarah Sinnett, business owner and involved in economic development projects, said the sale of the building is a win for the city.

"I think the sale of the building on 13th Avenue to WTA is a good deal for the city," Sinnett said. "We're getting exactly what we paid for it, and getting that back while investing in employees downtown, and investing in a company trying to grow. The biggest thing is there's a lot of details to the deal, so it can be confusing to all parties involved."

Sinnett encourages people to ask questions before signing a petition that could stop the sale. She said she's concerned the 13th Avenue building going to public auction. She said Buffalo Point only got 39 percent of its assessed value on an auction.

LB840 funds are economic development dollars a company receives when it reaches agreed-to achievements: increasing staffing at a specific pay rate or higher, investing a specific amount or more into the community and all of the requirements done in a specific amount of time. 

WTA met the requirements well before the deadline, according to Scott. 

Melissa Norgard, former Economic Development Director for the City of Sidney and co-owner of Sam & Louie's restaurant with her husband Stan, offered a business perspective on the sale.

"My husband and I have been business owners for 3 1/2 years in downtown Sidney, and I know that the retail and the restaurants in downtown Sidney will only benefit from having them (WTA) in the big red building," Norgard said. "I also know that as the E3 group brought up in their presentation a couple of weeks ago at the council meeting, economic development is shifting and its a lot less about bringing bigger businesses into communities. It's a lot more about supporting your local, smaller businesses and entrepreneurs to help grow your economy, and create economic vitality for smaller, rural towns."

The current WTA building would be used as the new Sidney Police Department and WTA would move its offices to the 13th Avenue "BIg Red" building. Norgard told city council one of the problems the city has recruiting police officers is the condition of the police department offices.

The City Council approved the purchase of the 1200 Pole Creek Crossing building following the Aug. 8 public hearing, and the sale of the Illinois Street property following the Aug. 22 public hearing. 

Since then, a group of Sidney residents announced a petition effort to stop the sale of the Illinois Street property. 

David Jansen, who is leading the petition efforts, was offered the opportunity to explain the purpose of the petition. News Channel Nebraska did not receive a response as of Tuesday. He said by email he would take questions and the group would review them. He later added he didn't want to be recorded.

"Thank you for the invite but as a whole we do not find your reporting to be neutral," Jansen said in-response to an email from NCN. "We do not want to be put in a situation to be misquoted, or have audio creatively edited, which has happened in the past. We would prefer that everything be done in writing."

In a memo to city council members for the Aug. 22 council meeting, Scott said if the proposal with WTA does not go through, the alternative is to put the building up for public auction, or keep the building and the City would "take a huge loss on the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) bond, giving Bass Pro a $310,000 payoff."

Kizzire said the simplest way to view a TIF is "a redeveloper is promising future tax dollars as repayment for development to a bondholder, essentially the future assessed value less the present assessed value from the date of the notice to divide."

Community redevelopment laws allow for the increased property taxes generated by the improvement of blighted property to be used to pay for the financing of the community redevelopment/TIF projects.

The statutes for community redevelopment/TIF are found in Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 18-2101 through 18-2155. Cities may act as the redevelopment “authority” or establish a community redevelopment authority (CRA). The CRA may levy a property tax separate from the city, but subject to levy allocation authority of the city government.

The city/CRA may also acquire real property and declare it public property, which is exempt from property taxes, but subject to in lieu of tax payments, according to the Nebraska Department of Revenue.

"I think that if people do think there's a better offer out there, they should really think twice," Norgard said. "I think selling the building for the price that has been agreed upon by the City and WTA is a fair price for that building. That building also contains restrictions and non-compete covenants that I think people are looking past."

Former Cheyenne County Assessor Melody Keller contacted News Channel Nebraska to clarify that if the former Cabela's building is sold, the new owner will pay the taxes. Use of the parking lot as explained in the proposal would make it public use and non-taxable.

Nebraska Revised Statutes 16-202 states: "If within thirty days after the passage and publication of such ordinance a remonstrance petition against such sale is signed by registered voters of the city equal in number to thirty percent of the registered voters of the city voting at the last regular city election held therein and is filed with the city council, the property shall not then, nor within one year thereafter, be sold."

NRS 16-202 also gives a citizen the right to start a petition objecting to a land transaction by a public agency, such as a city or county board. The statute allows for a remonstrance petition. A remonstrance the opportunity for the public to formally object to the transaction. Deadline for the petition is 30 days from the first publication of the purchase or sale.

Cheyenne County Clerk Beth Fiegenschuh told NCN there's no extra cost to run the petition for her office and her only role is verifying signatures.