Will Lost Lagoon come up short for this ride?

One year and two days after negotiations began, no deal is in place for a regional water park in Manatee County’s Tom Bennett Park.

But the idea hasn’t gone stagnant.

In 30 days, the county will know whether proposer Manatee Lost Lagoon will again submit a proposal for a regional 20-acre water park at Tom Bennett Park, or if any other vendors are interested.

Manatee County staff on April 24, 2015 selected Manatee Lost Lagoon as the best candidate for building a water park at Bennett Park. Negotiations stalled over the summer, when Lost Lagoon decided to add lodging to the project to make it more viable. County attorneys said the change was too big and issued a revised request for proposals April 26.

“Lodging is a potential game changer,” Assistant County Attorney Robert Eschenfelder said.

Bill Gridley, spokesman for Lost Lagoon, said he and the Lost Lagoon team would meet in the coming week to review the county’s new request for proposals and decide how to move forward.

“We want to make sure whatever changes they have in mind, that’s something we can still deliver at the high quality we could have the first time,” he said. “If we feel we can do as good a job as on the original, then we’ll be moving forward as a team.”

Manatee County will open new proposals for public review June 1.

If Lost Lagoon is the only proposer, negotiations could resume almost immediately.

“If we make it through the process, we will be just as aggressive to turn this into exactly what the county is looking for, but doing it on an active time table,” he said. “With something like a water park, it’s very seasonal. The difference of two or three months can have a big impact. This is one of those properties you really want to have open at the right time, while still doing it right.”

Lost Lagoon leaders originally envisioned opening the park in February 2017.

Negotiations largely will dictate how quickly Lost Lagoon, or any proposer, can move forward.

As learned in original discussions with Lost Lagoon, its leadership structure of a coalition of partners — engineers, contractors, architects and others — makes negotiations more complex than if the county were working with one large-scale operator, such as a Disney.

Eschenfelder said Lost Lagoon’s team will be better equipped to answer questions about water/sewer, noise and light generation and other issues related to the project, during a second go-round.

“There was a learning curve in terms of some of the members of the proposing team,” Eschenfelder said.

Gridley said prolonged negotiations, especially for first-time projects, are not abnormal.

“Typically, organizations are putting out their best idea,” he said. “And then you really do rely on the negotiations process to help you fine-tune what’s going to be the best for the county and the people of Manatee.”

Eschenfelder said negotiations with Lost Lagoon or another vendor likely will not begin until at least mid-June.