Kansas City, Kan. ? A massive water park and resort planned east of the Kansas Speedway cleared a governmental hurdle this week.

The Board of Commissioners for the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kan., approved a preliminary plan for the Schlitterbahn Vacation Village at 94th Street and Interstate 435 on Thursday night. The unanimous approval came after a presentation by Robert Campbell, vice president of the project’s lead architecture firm, Berger Devine and Yaeger, and Katherine Fontenot, Schlitterbahn project manager.

The development will include a manmade river loop, a riverside walkway modeled on the Riverwalk in San Antonio, lined by retail stores, restaurants and bars, and three kinds of lodging, including a 440,000-square-foot, 10-story hotel with two towers, Campbell said.

Fontenot said after the meeting that developers hoped to complete the water park and lodging cabins by May 2009. Channel digging for the planned river and construction of utilities, including roads, parking lots and buildings, is set to begin next month, pending approval of building permits by commissioners at their June 26 meeting. Grading work on the site already is under way.

The changes from the previous plan consisted of relocations on the site of the water park, river system and lodgings, said Unified Government spokesman Edwin Birch.

The project will be finished in phases, with a goal for completion in 2011, Campbell said.