Miller Park Fact Sheet

December 13, 2025

What’s being proposed?

Miller Park Trust is exploring an agreement with the City of Omaha to take on the day-to-day operation and maintenance of Miller Park (not including the pool or golf course), beginning in mid-2026, pending City Council approval.

What are day-to day operation and maintenance duties?

Sample maintenance duties include mowing grass, planting trees and flowers, emptying trash, managing weeds, picking up tree branches, cleaning bathrooms and the pavilion. Operations include planning park activities, pavilion rentals, and coordinating with the community.

What stays the same? The City retains ownership of Miller Park.

  • Miller Park remains a public park, open to everyone.
  • The City sets the park hours and is responsible for the park infrastructure.
  • The City continues to operate and maintain the swimming pool and golf course.

Where are we in the process? We are in the information-gathering stage.

  • Miller Park Trust, the Lozier Foundation, and the City are seeking community input through meetings and a survey before anything is finalized.
  • After community feedback is collected and reviewed, any proposal would go through the City Council process, starting with a first reading that has not yet been scheduled.

Community input now will shape whether and how this moves forward.

Why this is being considered? A safe, well-maintained Miller Park is essential to the health and strength of the neighborhood.

The City manages 250+ parks across Omaha. Even with past funding from the Foundation, Miller Park has not consistently received the level of attention the community believes it needs and the community deserves.

  • The Lozier Foundation, which started Miller Park Trust, sees this as a way to guarantee that the park is maintained and cared for with dedicated funding and staffing.
  • The Lozier Foundation has invested heavily in Miller Park and the surrounding neighborhood since 2016 – including providing lead funding for the addition of a dog park, splash pad, soccer wall, and Pavilion renovation, as well as contributing to Kerrie Orozco Field. The Lozier Foundation has also invested heavily in the neighborhood surrounding Miller Park, having paid to construct and operate both Nelson Mandela Elementary and Early Childhood Development Center across from the park for many years, as well as providing housing related funding to Habitat for Humanity, Holy Name Housing, Project Houseworks and others for the benefit of the neighborhood.
  • These improvements mean the park now requires more frequent and specialized maintenance to stay safe, clean, and welcoming.

What changes? If approved, the Miller Park Trust will:

  • Assume primary responsibility for operations and maintenance of Miller Park.
  • Build on a “place-based” investment model used by the Lozier Foundation in Miller Park and at Nelson Mandela Elementary and Early Childhood Development Center: long-term commitments in specific neighborhoods, with community input guiding decisions.
  • Work closely with the team at Lake Cunningham Trust, which operates and maintains Lake Cunningham for the City, to design a sustainable operations model.

How will the Trust be accountable to the community? If approved, The Miller Park trust will:

  • Hire a community outreach and engagement coordinator dedicated to Miller Park.
  • Maintain ongoing communication with neighbors.
  • Work with residents and partners to develop programming and events.
  • Provide clear points of contact so residents know who to call for maintenance issues, safety concerns, and programming ideas.
  • Additionally, the Trust would be interested in forming a Community Advisory Panel led by the neighborhood association.

Safety focus: Miller Park Trust intends to invest in ongoing safety measures so the park is a place for everyone. Based on community feedback and City coordination, this could include:

  • Improved lighting in key areas.
  • Gates to enforce City-established park hours.
  • Cameras in challenging areas.
  • A visible safety presence, likely to include Omaha Police Department bike patrol.

Myth vs. Fact

Myth: The City of Omaha is gifting Miller Park to the Miller Park Trust/Lozier Foundation, which will then own Miller Park.

Fact: The City will continue to own Miller Park. If approved by City Council, the agreement would allow MillerPark Trust to operate and maintain the park (not including the golf course or pool). Miller Park Trust/Lozier Foundation will assume the obligation to pay an estimated $800,000 annually to operate and maintain the park.

Myth: Privatized parks limit access for the community.

Fact: Miller Park will remain a public park. The City will continue to set park hours, and the parkwill stay open to everyone. A non-profit partner operating a park does not make it private.

Myth: The City of Omaha is entering into this agreement in order to “pay off” the Lozier Foundation for its $40M affordable housing bond purchase.

Fact: The $40M affordable housing bond purchased by the Lozier Foundation accelerates the City’s affordable housing work so it can be completed sooner than would otherwise have been possible. The affordable housing bond will be repaid to the Foundation at a 1% interest rate over a 30-year period, beginning in 2031, and after the streetcar bonds are repaid.

The Foundation proposed a 1% interest rate on the affordable housing bond, which is far below typical market returns and even below most basic savings options. We structured it this way because the goal was to support affordable housing projects, not to generate financial benefit for the Foundation.

Myth: This is a 99-year agreement.

Fact: The proposal is for a 10-year agreement, with an option to review and renew in 5-year increments after the initial term. However, the City can end the agreement at any time.

Myth: The City and Trust tried to hide this from the community.

Fact: The City and Trust notified community stakeholders about the proposal on November 19, published a public survey on December 3, and hosted a stakeholder meeting on December 4 to gather feedback. No documents have been finalized without community input.

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December 13, 2025