Kory goes public as Oz faces increased opposition

After many months of studiously avoiding the public limelight, Oz developer Robert Kory must have felt it was time to change that strategy. The Oz development, after all, is in trouble. So when Kory stepped behind the podium at the Lenexa Chamber of Commerce luncheon on March 22, the crowd quieted. The business and civic leaders in the audience expected to be sold on Kory's Wonderful World of Oz theme park, proposed for the 9,065-acre property near De Soto, Kan., where the U.S. Army's Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant operated for 40 years.

Kory shifted nervously in his near-perfect suit and wiped his brow. The Oz theme park, he said with his signature, boyish smile, "began as a dream for an internationally recognized family entertainment resort. It has become much more than a dream. It has now evolved into a plan. For something of this magnitude to become a plan, there are a multitude of agreements, studies, projections, and more studies."

Kory had the heat on him. Many people doubt the promises of prosperity for southern Johnson County that come from a man without theme park experience. And Kory may be losing the support he once counted on in the Kansas Legislature. The week previous to the chamber luncheon, Kansas state Rep. John Ballou of Gardner introduced legislation to strip the Kansas Development Finance Authority (KDFA) of its ability to issue up to $250 million in sales tax revenue bonds for the $771 million Oz project. The bill passed with a wide majority in preliminary actions in the Kansas House, where amendments could have been made to the bill before a final draft. A letter from the AFL-CIO sent the next day to legislators applied union pressure in support of the project. The legislature voted down the final draft of the bill on March 21 by a margin of eight votes -- far fewer than the overwhelming majorities Oz-related legislation garnered last year.

According to Ballou, the bill was significant because it indicated a growing lack of faith in the Oz Entertainment Co.'s bid to receive 15 square miles of property from the federal government for the Oz theme park. To get the land, Oz has to prove it can provide the money for cleanup of the environmental contamination associated with decades of shell and rocket propellant manufacturing at the Sunflower site.

Kory said, after the luncheon, he was heartened by what he calls "the vote of confidence in the legislature" concerning Ballou's bill to keep KDFA bonds out of Oz hands. But he says the legislation raised significant issues. "We spent some time meeting with legislators, to answer questions and address issues, and keep communications open."

Kory claimed during his presentation to have the favor of the KDFA. But Oz stopped working with the KDFA earlier this year. Oz officials decided to present a final financing plan to the KDFA for a yes-or-no decision instead of working through the intricacies of the plan with the agency.

"There are people who think Oz has no intention of building that park," says Ballou, "that they will come along and get land fairly cheap, decide not to do it, use the revenue bonds to clean and market and develop that land. Oz should come up with their own land or wait for government to clean it and take parcels as they are available. If Kansas issues those bonds, the state is helping someone compete with a private enterprise. It makes the field uneven."

Kory says Johnson County is the place for Oz. Kansas is a place that has the "economic and social bases that are compatible with Oz values. There is a commitment to education. There are well-developed services needed for the information and entertainment industries. We seek to create a product that appeals to the best in people. We are building a destination, a theme park, based on the Oz stories and the characters. We will network around the world on the Oz concept and the characters."

"There is no place like home," Kory adds. "We need one. There is no place like Johnson County."

Despite the project's storybook-like appeal, Kory was outwardly nervous at the luncheon. And he didn't present any new information on the project. But Kory says he is going to be more public because of the nearness of an agreement with state and federal agencies over the transfer of the Sunflower property from the Army to Kansas. The state, with approval from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the governor, will transfer the land to Oz on the condition the environmental contamination will be cleaned up.

Some people at the luncheon left with more doubts than when they arrived. "For a long time, I didn't pay attention to Oz," says Jackie Holliger, marketing representative for Wichita Southeast Kansas Transit Inc., a trucking firm. "It just wasn't what I would be interested in participating in. But I think now, whether I am interested in it or not it, it will take my money. I was not impressed with Kory. He did not have the kind of enthusiasm you would expect from someone who has to work to sell his project to people."