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The Nebraska Legislature passed the Good Life Transformational Projects Act in 2023. The act emphasizes transformational development that attracts out-of-state tourism, economic growth and ultimately increases state tax revenue streams.
It allows an applicant to define a specific geographic area and development project(s) within, along with an economic impact analysis that strongly shows how objectives for the state will be met. In return, if approved, the state will cut the sales tax in half inside the defined district to create a financial incentive to spur the development of the district.
The state then announced there will only be five Good Life Districts allowed. So far, there are districts approved for Gretna, Omaha and Grand Island. The Grand Island application was submitted by Woodsonia, with the support of our City Council. Woodsonia is the same developer doing our Conestoga Marketplace project.
The geographic area for the Grand Island Good Life District includes land on both sides of Highway 281 between 13th and Capital Avenue, as well as the largely undeveloped land north between Capital Avenue and Highway 281 between Webb Road and Broadwell Avenue. Most of the undeveloped land is owned by the city.
A ”clean up” bill was passed by the Legislature in 2024 that, among other things, further defined how the financial incentive provided by the state can be leveraged by municipalities through economic development programs. Such a program would give cities the opportunity to redirect the state’s forgone sales tax to a local sales tax that would create a local revenue stream for the development project. The net result is no change in sales tax to the consumer.
The language in the bill requires a vote of the people to enable cities to create an economic development program that leverages the taxes. Our City Council in Grand Island voted on June 18 to hold a special election. The ballot question asks voters to mark “For” or “Against” authorizing the city “to establish a good life district economic development program and impose and appropriate local sources of revenue to such program.”
On June 19, following the action taken by City Council, Grow Grand Island (GGI) began the process to officially advocate a “For” vote. This included organizing an education campaign, which officially launched on July 11 with a press conference.
Special election ballots will be mailed on July 22 to all Grand Island registered voters—they cannot be picked up in person. Ballots can be mailed back or dropped off, but either way, they must be received by the Hall County Election Commissioner by 5:00pm on August 13. Also, with the new voter ID law, the received ballot will need a signature and a noted federal/state issued identification.
With the tight timeframe, educating the community on the special election and the ballot question is a big challenge. GGI’s special election site (goodlifegi.org) is a good place to go for extensive information on Grand Island’s good life district, as well as dynamic content on potential development concepts.
On behalf of Grow Grand Island and the Good Life For Grand Island Committee, we hope you will seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity made possible by our state legislators and mark your ballot “FOR” the economic development program.