Guest Editorial: The Bellevue Good Life District

by Harrison Johnson, Bellevue Director of Community & Economic Development

The Transformational Good Life Act passed by the Legislature in 2023 was a bold, ambitious, albeit clunky invention. Often confusing, and vague in its language about what it was and what its requirements are, the process to establish one was a journey for Bellevue City leaders. However, it aims at confronting Nebraska’s biggest challenges. No, it’s not taxes, but the fact that our educated young people are leaving our home State at record numbers. Losing Nebraska’s best and brightest has had, and will have, profound economic and social consequences, making our State less competitive and less prosperous. Bellevue’s leadership has taken this challenge head on with solidly ambitious projects to enhance the State’s recreation and employment opportunities with Nebraska’s only public-led Good Life District. Bellevue’s Good Life District addresses the root causes of Nebraska “brain drain” by providing exciting one-of-a-kind recreation and vastly expanding well paying careers associated with Bellevue’s Project Reach. We firmly believe that the Good Life Act is a positive transformative piece of legislation that needs responsible updates.

Competitive companies plant headquarters and expansions primarily based on two factors. The first factor is the proximity to their consumer markets, simply put, closer to where their customers are, and the second factor is their access to a skilled and educated labor pool. Land prices and taxation often make the headlines, but those rarely top the economic pull of better access to who’s paying them and those to work in their businesses. That’s why even at a net population loss, New York City still saw dozens of relocations of major companies since 2017. Simply, the advantages gained by consumer and labor market access trump concerns for tax or development liabilities. The drivers of key consumer and labor markets are obviously the flow of people and where they choose to live and work.

People are moving today for reasons that people have always moved jobs, family, and quality of life. Despite the punditry around taxation in Nebraska, it’s only able to affect one aspect of quality of life, but survey data consistently shows us that with good paying jobs, familial growth options (housing especially), and attractive recreation opportunities drive the flow of people, and particularly Nebraska’s young professionals. In order to spur development that achieves these goals, local governments and the State need innovative solutions to incentivize the private sector. These include projects in urban core development in Omaha and Norfolk’s downtown revitalization. The Transformational Good Life Act is one of those critical tools that can help push projects like those to new heights if used responsibly. Bellevue is leading the pack on how to get this done.

Bellevue City’s approach as the singular public Good Life District is to use the diverted tax revenue as a result from the law to cover the costs of infrastructure and the Bellevue Bay Indoor Water Park in the District. The excess sales tax revenue will then go towards improving roads, parks, and most critically, providing much needed property tax relief. Project Reach’s (NC3), a private-public partnership expanding the defense sector in STRATCOM, will be able to utilize the Good Life District around the facility to build adjacent commercial, retail, dining, and housing options to the expanded professional workforce. These amenities target the young college-educated Nebraskans keeping our graduates in our State, near their families, and supporting our economy. This is made possible by Bellevue’s approach to the Transformational Good Life Act.

We recognize that not all the State’s ambitions pitched through the Good Life Act will materialize, and we share the concern around public accountability and ensuring a return on investment to the taxpayer. However, we hope to work hand-in-hand with our private sector partners, our legislators, and our governor to make the needed corrections to this bold transformative law.