NORMAN, Okla. (KFOR) — Norman City Council approved the phasing plan for the Rock Creek Entertainment District in a special afternoon meeting Tuesday.
The 8-1 vote came weeks after the plan was up for a possible vote on an April 22 agenda by the council. The council voted to postpone consideration of the phasing plan due to ongoing litigation regarding a referendum petition that’s reached Oklahoma’s Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has placed the issue on a fast-track docket, expecting to make a decision before the end of the summer.
Norman City Council postpones vote on Rock Creek Entertainment District phasing plan
The case is tied to fallout from an economic development agreement last fall that would see two tax increment finance districts (TIFs) implemented to help fund the project. The first uses sales tax, the second is an ad valorem tax revenue. The University of Oklahoma will also fund part of the project since the anchor of the project is a new arena to replace the university’s Lloyd Noble Center.
Opponents of the taxpayer-funded plan with Oklahomans For Responsible Economic Development (ORED) followed the initial approval with a referendum petition that received a little over 11,000 signatures, well over the required amount, to send the measure to a vote of the people. Opponents of the petition sued petition organizers in the Cleveland County District court and won, after a judge decided the wording of the petition or gist wasn’t legally sufficient to go to a public vote. ORED’s legal team appealed the decision to Oklahoma’s Supreme Court.
The phasing plan on the April 22 agenda laid out three phases of development for the project overall in a seven-year time frame. The anchor project, the arena, would be built starting November 2026. The plan anticipates investments totaling well over $600 million, but costs could vary.
Norman City Council MEETING PacketDownload
After postponing the plan last month, the City of Norman received a notice of default from developers of the project. That notice meant the city could have been sued if a vote wasn’t made by May 24.
The City’s Attorney, Rick Knighton, shared Tuesday that it could cost the city close to $230 million if litigation were pursued and the city lost. Knighton said the city couldn’t even cover 5% of that cost.
Notice-of-DefaultDownload
Tuesday’s meeting, after a city budget presentation, focused on revisiting the phasing plan. Ward 4 Councilmember Helen Grant proposed an amendment to the vote that would see the plan approved under specific circumstances.
Norman petitioners want OK Supreme Court to hear entertainment district funding case
The first scenario would be if the Oklahoma Supreme Court decided to uphold the lower court ruling. The second scenario would be if the Oklahoma Supreme Court sided with opponents who want the vote, it went to a public vote, but citizens still supported the plan regardless.
“If it’s a vote of the people and the people vote no, it’s all null and void,” said Russell Rice, with Oklahomans For Responsible Economic Development.
Councilmembers approved the amendment, changing the wording of the vote, before listening to nearly half an hour of public comment. No one who signed up to speak was heard that actually supported the phasing plan or TIF funding mechanism.
Ward 7 Councilmember Stephen Tyler Holman still recognized the amount of division the situation has created city-wide.
“It has created animosity and negativity and resentment in this city that is going to last for years,” said Holman.
Rice said he agreed with Holman that the harm had already been done, blaming the division on the haste to rush forward with the project without a public vote in the first place, even though it was not legally required.
After some debate and questions asked and answered by Knighton, councilmembers voted to approve the plan with Grant’s amendment, 8-1. Ward 5 Councilmember Michael Nash was the only no vote.
“It was a relief, vindication that it’s like everything that we’re doing matters,” said Rice.
News 4 reached out to Norman Mayor Larry Heikkila, who has been a vocal supporter of the TIF project, for comment, and received the following statement:
I’m pleased with the 8 to 1 consensus vote today. It is what we needed to do. I don’t know what the Supreme Court will do, so that didn’t factor into my decision.
Larry Heikkila, Mayor of Norman
Rice said that ORED is currently waiting to hear if the Oklahoma Supreme Court will grant their legal team oral arguments to plead their case in person. Opposition to those arguments argues that the case is important but that ORED’s legal team hasn’t proved that the circumstances are extraordinary enough to warrant oral arguments.
