The council unanimously approved an amendment to the Chapel Ridge and North tax increment financing districts and a new TIF for the proposed I-470 Business and Technology Center during a special session Friday.

The approval of the TIF districts, along with a transportation development district, means the city will have an estimated $26 million in new revenue available for construction of the interchange at Interstate 470 as well as other road projects in the area. The amount of money available depends on the success of retail and office space planned for the area, which is generally south of Woods Chapel Road and west of the interstate.

In general, TIF's use new tax revenue generated by a development to pay for infrastructure costs in a development area.

After the vote, Mayor Karen Messerli noted how the interchange would not have been possible without funding generated by the incentive districts.

'The Strother Road interchange has been a high priority that we've worked toward for many years,' she said.

The amendment to the Chapel Ridge TIF district will allow for a mix of residential, office and retail development on the site of the Chapel Ridge Golf Club. The district is roughly just west of Interstate 470 and stretches from Woods Chapel Road south along Ralph Powell Road to Strother Road. The incentive district also includes a block of land north of Woods Chapel Road.

Developers Mike Atcheson and Larry Haas plan to add 436,000 square feet of office space, nearly 100,000 square feet of retail, 125 single-family homes, 334 multi-family homes and a hotel. The new development will be adjacent to nearly 605,000 square feet of existing development, plus a hotel.

Alone, the Chapel Ridge development would generate about $25.4 million toward the cost of the interchange. However, the amount is not sufficient to close the gap toward the estimated cost of $40 million for the interchange despite nearly $8 million in federal funding.

The council also approved a TIF district for the proposed I-470 Business and Technology Center, to be located due south of the Chapel Ridge TIF. The plan will allow the developer, Wilgate Development LLC, to build about 975,000-square-feet of office space, 29,700-square-feet of general retail, as well as a restaurant, hotel and strip center.

The development is expected to generate an additional $1.5 million toward the funding of the interchange. The amendment of the North TIF, first approved in 2000, was modified to allow the creation of the business center plan.

Attorney Dick King of King Hershey law firm, which represents Atcheson and Haas' development company, Ralph Powell Road Development LLC, said the three-pronged approach presented the best opportunity to complete the interchange.

'This amendment will go a long way toward bridging that gap (in funding),' King told the council. 'This is a win-win.'

The interchange project includes widening I-470 and adding several connecting roads and traffic signal upgrades that would be built within and adjacent to the development. Lee's Summit and the Missouri Department of Transportation plan to add an interchange at Strother Road and auxiliary lanes in both directions from Woods Chaepl Road to Colbern Road by 2010.

The city has an agreement with Property Reserve Inc., a division of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that owns a significant amount of property in Lee's Summit, to acquire land for a road extension east of the interchange. The extension is required by MoDOT, which administers I-470.

The agreement calls for the city to build a collector road from Woods Chapel Road to Colbern Road by 2012 in exchange for 26 acres of right of way. If the city fails to meet the current deadline, it does not get the right of way.

While the Council's vote was unanimous, it was not a complete polling of the body. Council members James Freeman III, Kathy Hofmann and Ron Williams were absent. Hofman has been ill all week, according to Mayor Karen Messerli, while the other members had prior engagments.

Reach Andre Riley at andre.riley@examiner.net or 816-350-6362.