Austin City Council to discuss MLS stadium 'term sheet'

When the Austin City Council last met at the end of June, they voted to enter into negotiations with Columbus Crew owner Anthony Precourt.

Precourt wants to move his team from Ohio to Texas and build a privately-funded soccer park on city-owned land: McKalla Place on Braker and Burnet across from the Domain.
                
A 25-page term sheet is the result of those negotiations.

"All of the terms have been negotiated, now we just have to put them into agreements," said Attorney Richard Suttle who has been representing Precourt Sports Ventures in the negotiations.  

Sure to be one of the most controversial elements of the term sheet: the team won't pay property taxes.

"The City of Austin will own the facility so although Precourt is fully paying for it, the City of Austin will own this facility so that's a very important point.  And the City of Austin doesn't pay taxes on their facilities," Suttle said.  

But where the team initially wanted to pay just a dollar a year in rent, the agreement ended up being an annual $550,000 starting on the 6th year of the lease.

"The City of Austin has a history of bad negotiations.  They give away too much and get too little in return," said Council Member Leslie Pool.  

McKalla Place is in Pool's District 7.  Pool says the actual market rate rental on the land is $2 million.  Her verdict after reading the term sheet -- the deal is a quote "massive giveaway."

"The Precourt proposal disappointingly contains little new information.  Frankly his proposal still leaves taxpayers subsidizing a for-profit corporation," Pool said.

Also in the term sheet: 130 on-site affordable housing units, final city approval over the architect, city monitoring of the construction, working together with Cap Metro on a future rail station, along with a transportation and parking plan.

"So the term sheet includes the obligation to do a traffic study and a parking study and what we would do is have enforcement and no parking zones and nearby neighborhoods and businesses so as not to disrupt their lives," Suttle said.

The Columbus Crew owners are hoping to have the team playing somewhere here in Austin by next March.  The finished stadium would open in 2021.  Suttle says an August 9th approval is critical.

Council is holding a special-called meeting to discuss the terms on Wednesday.  Council Member Pool is still hoping her colleagues will seriously consider other options for McKalla Place besides soccer -- and that's not all.

"I am also looking at language to place the soccer stadium question on the November ballot so that there could be a public vote," Pool said.

Also in the term sheet: a non-relocation agreement and a commitment to naming the team "Austin...something." 

Suttle says the name would be revealed after approval.
                
Again that Council meeting is Wednesday and they will be taking public comment.