City Council - Regular Meeting

Good morning. We're going to get started this morning with an invocation led by Pastor Ren Shuffman of Freedom Fellowship Church. And that will be followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Levi Madeline Asher and Hannah Peck representing Scouting America Troops 177 and 6177. Please stand as you are able.

Thank you. Thank you, Pastor Shuffman. Thank you, Levi, Madeline, Asher, and Hannah. All right, I call this meeting of the City Council to order, and we have a presentation to make, item 3A under Office of the Mayor, and I'll make my way to the front for that. And Brooklyn, please join me. Brooklyn, you are our employee of the month. And so we would love to learn a little bit more about you. And so I'd ask the clerk to read this resolution.

Well, thank you. Well, Brooklyn, we're so grateful for your service as one of the 5,000 greatest city employees in the country. And we'd love to, I think as a council, commemorate that with passage of this resolution. So let's see if we can get a motion and a second. Is that coming along? I don't see anything. Do we have a motion in a second? Yes. Okay. I wish to vote aye. Cast your votes. You'll have to let me know. Passed? All right. We're going to take the word for it, Brooklyn. We think it passed.

And I said, can I just hold the microphone and you say thank you. How does that sound? Deal? Deal. All right. I would... Oh, there's more coming out than just thinking. There you go. You've warmed up. All right, here you go, Brooklyn. Okay.

Awesome. I knew you could do it. Let's hear it for Brooklyn. are still on office of the mayor uh... i have a significant number of appointments today customarily i might shout out the boards that are affected that may be uh... impractical today but it's items b through age a uh... dozens of uh... boards affected by these appointments today now there is one i'd like to pull out for a separate vote uh... just because of uh... Family relationship that one of our council members have and so let's vote on item 3 are the appointments to the Metropolitan Library Commission First if we could just get

All right, thank you. We're on item 8L, and we can take a motion in a second. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes eight to one, and with the necessary six affirmative votes. Item four, items from council. We have a couple of travel resolutions here as well. Item 4A is a resolution approving expenses for council members Carter and Stonecipher to attend the National League of Cities in Nashville in November. Take a motion on that. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes eight to one and with the necessary six affirmative votes. Item 4B is a resolution approving

Thank you. Excuse me. Item 6, Journal of Council Proceedings. We have items A and B we could take with one motion. The motion in a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item seven, request for uncontested continuances. Mr. City Manager.

All right. We'll now recess the council and convene as the Oklahoma City Municipal Facilities Authority. We do have someone who has signed up to speak on item B on this docket, Steve Hunt.

So we're on the MFA docket, and we have items A through N we could take with one motion. A motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Now we'll adjourn OCMFA and convene as the Oklahoma City Public Property Authority. We do have someone who signed up to speak on item E, Brittany Grant.

Thank you, Brittany. On item F, we have Rachel Crawford.

thank you and rachel before you leave um i just want to thank you you um have invited me the last few years to the state of the plaza event that you all host and this year i believe is talking about your annual report you you shared what your annual operating budget is and i was kind of floored by by the amount because of how much how many events you put on how much activity you all have generated can you share that with everyone here what your annual operating budget is

I just was floored because I was like, surely they have a million dollar. They're doing so much and I think that just is a testament to how efficient you all are and how many volunteers you all engage through your board. Your board is very active from what I understand and so the ability to really put on all these events and I think just goes to show how much love people are putting into the district.

May I have two notes on that? First, a note of gratitude. I believe it's the anniversary for you recently of several years serving in this role.

Congratulations. I thought I saw something on Instagram like that, so I appreciate your service. On Councilwoman's note, and I believe I've mentioned this before, And so I'm gonna ask everyone up here to think a little bit outside the box. You know, there was a time, I wanna say 2008, when I was in grad school in Stillwater and I would come down to visit friends here, and I saw the improvements to the Western Avenue district, the infrastructure improvements that really slowed traffic down enough where people started saying, wait, I'm gonna maybe go to this restaurant, go to this store, It was

These three paid folk, two part-time, right, are putting on events that are getting national recognition. The mural, I mean, good lord. And I just would want us to start thinking less about the big businesses out there that we could be investing in to bring here, which we have, but what happens when we invest in our main streets all across the country? Oklahoma City, whether it's Capitol Hill, Stockyards, Paseo, Plaza, Uptown, 39th Street, Britton District, Windsor District, and really said that, hey, you all have, and I'm so sorry if I left out, I of course know there are more, but that's kin

Thank you. Now we can proceed to the vote on the PPA agenda, items A through I. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. passes unanimously. All right, now we'll adjourn OCPPA and reconvene as the council where we are on item nine, the consent docket. There are no items currently scheduled for a presentation. Two have been struck as previously indicated. Is there any item that a council member wishes to pull out for a separate vote or separate comment or question? Hearing none, we'll take a motion on the consent docket, items A through CP, or actually B through CP. A was previously stru

Okay, this was recommended for approval by planning staff and unanimous support by the Planning Commission, so I will move for approval.

We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Oh, I don't know what's going on up there, but this is working, so. 11b is an ordinance on final hearing it was recommended for approval rezoning 25 southwest 50th from spud 1448 to r2 councilman stone known as sign of speak although someone has signed up speak for a much later case and i will bring that up at that time but yours is clear go ahead all right thank you mayor um this is basically a single residential or duplex uh development over around 50th and santa fe so uh

The city nodded for its approval as well as the Planning Commission, so I'll go ahead and move for its approval.

All right, we have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Items C and D were previously struck, which brings us to item E. Item E2 is an ordinance on final hearing that was recommended for approval rezoning 4200 Southwest 29th from I2 and AE2 to PUD 2134 and AE2. Item E1 is an amendment to the master design statement relative to this item. This item was deferred on three previous occasions. And Councilwoman Avers, no one is signed to speak.

Mark, if you want to present the amendments.

Thank you. So this is a development that had required a comp plan amendment, so we added some TEs to address potential compatibility issues, both for the new residents as well as the existing neighbors. And do I need to make a motion to amend and then do a motion to approve? Okay, so I'd like to make a motion to accept the amendments as read by Mark.

Motion to amend the TEs as read by the applicant.

Okay, so this is in addition to E1, right? Yes. All right, we've got that motion. Why don't we bring it up for a virtual motion? And I don't know, is that what's showing on the other side as well? Okay. Oh, we're not working either. Okay. All right, so we need a verbal second. We've got a verbal motion. And then you said we can raise hands on the votes?

Okay. All right, so all in favor of the amendment just moved, please raise your hand. Okay. It's self-evident that all hands were raised, so I won't even call for a nay. Passes unanimously, and that leaves us with the item. You want to do E1, the amendment to the master design statement? Or was that? I don't know, I wasn't clear if that was, I got the impression that was a different amendment, what you just proposed, so that you still want the amendment to the master design? Yes, sir. Okay. All right, so this is, so we have a motion, is there a second for E1?

All right, we have a motion and a second. All in favor, raise your hand. All right, all unanimous, passes unanimously. Now we're on E2. Do you wish to make a motion for that, Councilwoman Abrams?

All right, we have a motion and a second. All in favor of item E2, raise your hand. All right, passes unanimously. Okay, working so far. Item F is an ordinance on final hearing that was recommended for approval rezoning 10324 Southwest 29th from R1 to PUD 2143. Councilwoman Avers, no one is signed to speak.

Thank you. This was accidentally coordinated in advance of application, so motion to approve.

Got a motion and a second. All in favor, raise your hand. Passes unanimously. Item G is an ordinance on final hearing that was recommended for approval rezoning 2844 Lancaster Lane from R1 to SPD 1816. Councilman Cooper, no one is signed to speak.

Yes, but the applicant is here, right? I would like to have a bit of a public understanding of this rezoning, please.

Can we go back to that screen, please? Okay. Well, I'm glad to see the parking not so prioritized at the front of May like that. I think that's good. It's an improvement on what I often see over there. All right, well, I'll move for approval. Do I need to do that verbally? Are we back to screens? Okay.

Oh, we might be working again. All right, go ahead. Something about Ward 2.

All right, well, we have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. We'll let you know how it ends. Okay. All right, passes unanimously. Thank you. Okay, now we're on item H. This is an ordinance on final hearing. It was recommended for approval, rezoning 3000 Northwest 150th from SPUD 848 and PUD 302 to SPUD 1831. Councilman Stone-Seifer, no and a sign of speech.

Okay. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes.

All right, now we're on item I. This is an ordinance on final hearing. It was recommended for approval rezoning 3131 Northwest 192nd from 01 to SPD 1840. This was deferred on July 21st. And Councilman Carter, I understand you will handle this item and no one has signed with, actually. Yes, sir. Scratch that. Tom Bowling has signed up to speak. I don't know his status with this project. Are you the applicant? Are you the applicant? Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, are you Tom Bowling? Are you the applicant or are you protesting? I'm protesting. Oh, okay. So maybe we want to hear from the applicant first.

Since he's here, let's listen to him first. David will go with you next.

All right. Am I up here too early? Go ahead. You have three minutes.

Did you go to the meeting when this was considered and? No, sir, I didn't.

Let's listen to the applicant now. Look at what?

And what is the TE? I'm sorry, I was just handed this this morning, so I'm wanting to kind of double check.

So with recommendation from staff as well as planning commission, then we're going to go ahead and let this move us forward and move for approval.

I'm looking at our two former planning commissioners right now. Do y'all have thoughts? I mean, I'm not trying to step a course on, I know Councilman asked you to carry it, I'm just curious.

If it was zoned R1, they'd be able to build a two-story house by right, and we wouldn't even be here right now. So if it had the exact same zoning as this gentleman's property, they would have the ability to build two stories and we wouldn't question it. I think the only thing to, I don't know, how big is the setback between the housing?

And even with a two-story, whether it be a house or a duplex, if we added an extra large fence, that's not gonna be tall enough to block anything, so I don't want to put that restriction on. So I didn't see anything that we could actually do in this sense. Am I wrong?

It's difficult. I mean, you could, we could require them to, uh, what do they call it? Like frost the windows. Haven't we done that before? Um, but again, it doesn't really sound very compatible.

I just wanted to hear people with planning Commission background speak to the gentleman's concerns. I didn't want it to seem like we were just boot scooting right past that. So that's all thanks.

Okay, so we have a motion and a second for this item. Item I. Cast your votes.

We're voting now, sir. I'm sorry. It's a little late. Thank you. Passes unanimously.

Thank you. Item J is an ordinance on final hearing. It was recommended for approval, rezoning 2800 North Oklahoma Avenue from R4 to SPUD 1842. Councilman Pennington, no one is signed up to speak.

Thank you, Mayor. This is just taking some R4 zoning and moving it into industrial that's more compatible with the immediate surrounding area, so I'm gonna move approval.

motion a second cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item K is an ordinance on final hearing. It was recommended for approval rezoning 5902 Epperly Drive from R1 to SPD 1844. Councilman Stone, no one has signed up to speak.

Thank you, Mayor. This is basically a storage unit off of Southeast 59th over close to Epperly. Recommended by the city and the Planning Commission, so I'll move for its approval.

All right, we have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item L is an ordinance on final hearing. It was recommended for approval establishing a special permit to operate use unit 8300.33 drinking establishment in the I-2 and DP overlay districts at 500 Southwestern Councilwoman Hammond. It's not here. Okay, well maybe we'll table that for a moment, see if she returns. Item M is an ordinance on final hearing recommended for approval closing a portion of a north-south utility easement on lot one in block seven of the lakes at Annecy Phase One. Councilman Stone-Seifer. Is t

Seeing no questions, thank you, T.O. I think we can probably proceed with introduction, if there's a motion. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Okay, we're gonna back up now to item L. This was the previously described ordinance on final hearing in Ward 6, and I understand Councilman Cooper will present this.

Yeah, is the applicant present for that? Getting those steps in, we don't do that enough. That's what I hear from data. He's got some .

Motion and a second, cast your votes. Passed unanimously. All right, back into order, which brings us to item O. O1 is a public hearing regarding the dilapidated structure here listed. Amy, has anyone signed up to speak? They have not, so we will advance to the resolution at O2, declaring that the structure is dilapidated. I have a motion and a second, cast your vote. Passes unanimously. Item 11P1 is the public hearing regarding the unsecured structures here listed, except for those previously struck. Amy, has anyone signed up to speak?

They have not. So we'll advance to the resolution found at P2 declaring structures are unsecured. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Q1 is the public hearing regarding the abandoned building here listed. Amy, has anyone signed to speak?

If not, so we'll advance to the resolution at Q2 declaring that the building is abandoned. A motion and a second. Cast your votes. Councilman Avers, if you would. Passes unanimously. All right, 11R is a joint resolution with the Oklahoma City Economic Development Trust approving the allocation of geo-limited tax bond proceeds in an amount not to exceed $3 million for the Shane Affordable Housing Project near Hefner and County Line. And we have a presentation.

For the 18 years, is that how long the owners have to maintain that affordability? And so after that, they're no longer required to do it.

Kathy, so is the term loan, is that whenever it's paid back in full, or is it a lump sum in 18 years?

I like the approach that's being taken with this administration so that it can really reinvest and create essentially a cycling fund. Is that the intent?

I don't... Well, I guess I can make it as a question. Can you help me understand this location, like why the developer chose Heppner and County Line?

Thank you for the context from both of you. I think this is more for the council and maybe for the developer, I'm not sure. It sounds like you know what you're talking about. I know Kathy absolutely does. My concern about this location is, and I'll play it out. I want to see how this goes. But my concern, and it's what you just talked about with the highway and 400 of these units. One of my best friends just bought a car. Had one, but it was a very old one. And spent... over $25,000 to buy that car. That's the first thing. We also know annually it's about $12,000 maintenance and gas. When you'

On that, I'll take that as a segue. I don't think that you're wrong in what you're saying, but I think that the definition for who qualifies for affordable housing has expanded a lot, especially in the last 12 to 18 months. So I do think something like this is needed in my ward. I have to agree with him wholeheartedly when it comes to the fact that we don't have public transportation in that area. I want to say public transportation stops about a mile and a half from this corner, Council North's Expressway. So that's something that we'll have to take up with our transit on that. A couple quest

When you say you're restricted from doing this for 30 years, if I read the slide correctly, I mean, I understand what the loans, the agreements and what such, but what I read, I thought it said, if you were to sell, you would have to pay everything back in one lump sum at that point. But it doesn't say anything about the fact that the person purchasing it would have to maintain affordable housing.

Are we about to explode? Something's about to happen. Sorry to interrupt you.

So even if it's paid off, that restriction is tied to the land for 30 years. Correct. So whoever buys it understands that and is going to be held to those standards.

Okay, that helps me on this one. I want to also make sure that we have that kind of put out in layman's terms. The other question I have for you is what is your timeframe of development? And I'm gonna explain this to you and the reason I'm asking this is I have a lot of pressure from the Piedmont School District to not develop. They haven't approved a bond in almost two years now. They haven't been able to build buildings. They can't even take care of their roads. They're having a lot of issues with different aspects. So the more we build and put kids in their school, the more problems they co

Okay, so three years, you'll have 400 and something units completed.

Okay, thank you very much. Relatedly, you know a school district that just passed a bond and is doing all kinds of improvement is Oklahoma City Public Schools. They're building flex spaces for career tech training on campus, so I'd love to see you back here. I like, it sounds like you're minding your heart or heading in some places where I think there's some good collaboration in the future, but.

It's called regulating one's emotions and not just responding. Okay, sorry, go ahead.

This is something that voters just approved in October, this $50 million for the first time in our history investment in affordable housing. And the council member's not wrong. We have for all of these years, we did not even have Sunday bus service, as you all recall, until 2018. For all of these decades, the buses did not run on days that people go to places of worship, when they go to grocery stores, to see their families, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. We did not prioritize public transportation, and that is why Ward 4 and Ward 7 and Ward 5 and Ward 8 are not served by public transportati

Thank you. I think what you're saying is strategic prioritization of economic incentives tied to affordable housing. And so is there a framework within the alliance or within this economic development trust that is prioritizing or incentivizing or rank ordering applications based on what makes the most sense for our city? Or is it really just on an application by application basis?

I'll have more to say about this later. I don't want to keep the developer and Kathy.

We have a resident who signed up to speak on this item, Steve Hunt.

All right, well, we have a motion and a second. Cast your votes if you have the ability. I would like to vote aye.

All right, item S is a joint resolution with the Oklahoma City Economic Development Trust approving the allocation of bond proceeds in an amount not to exceed $2 million for the Villas at Stone Lake affordable housing project at 7404 Lyrewood Lane. And we have a presentation?

Is this going to have the same deed restriction on the land?

And what are we doing with the current residents? What are we going to do with the current residents that are there?

And thank you because I just did a transit. Look to what it would be like to go from City Hall to these apartments. And there's, you know, right there within a couple, not even walking distances, even the right word for it. But so this is the sort of stuff because you would take the 8 to the Rapid. So no, I really like that. So thank you for thinking here.

All right. We can take a motion on item S. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. All right, item T is a joint resolution with the Oklahoma City Economic Development Trust certifying that project slate, a proposed slate of three app-distributed digital productions, is an eligible project under the Strategic Investment Program's Film Incentive Program. This allocation would not exceed $57,138, and we have a presentation.

Thanks, Jill. All right, we can take a motion on item T. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes.

All right, item 11U are claims recommended for denial. We have items A and B and executive session is not requested. We have motion and a second. Passes unanimously. Item V1 is a claim recommended for approval. Executive session is not requested. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. That concludes votes for the day. We're now at item 12, comments from council. Ward one, ward two. Yes.

A few things. First, city manager, or maybe it's for Amy, and it doesn't have to be this meeting. Maybe it could be the next one, but something that's been on my mind for a long time, but then over the weekend really accelerated. It could be brief, but I would like for the public to hear a walkthrough of not the agenda items, but the agenda categories. Like, what is concurrence? What is consent? What is items for individual consideration? Like, how, what, like, I just don't think, I know for a fact, as someone who, until I served on this body, I had no idea what each of those terms were. So, f

So thank you for that. And then a question before I have some comments. We had some council members who went on a trip recently to Salt Lake City, and I was just curious how your trip went for the one tranted. How'd it go? It was all right. All right. Well, on that note, with the affordable housing conversation earlier, I had already planned to ask for this presentation, but I think we would all benefit the council and the public for maybe a bit of a presentation on transit oriented development. I think that would go a long way to helping people understand why we need to be strategic about, I

Thank you. Word three. Word four. Thank you, Mary. Mayor. Sorry. I'm well aware that mayor is also what you call your wife. Mary Ann. Yeah. So I know that this has always been, for as long as you've been on the council, an issue for you. Right.

You know, last Friday I was able to attend the M.T. Berry funeral, which is very sad, but it was really just a fantastic celebration of his life and, you know, not just his life, but all the different things that he brought to this city, that he brought to his community, to his family, and to different friends. And I would just like to thank everyone that was able to speak at that. They did a fantastic job and it turned out to be a really nice event. I served with him on some committees and I always appreciated him very drastically in how he worked. So, thank you.

Thank you, Mayor. Just one thing in response to Councilman Cooper. I do think it'd be a good idea for us to take the time to get educated on multifamily housing, all of that. And I think that that fits very well with the zoning code update that is ongoing and the conversations that are happening in the public. So perhaps a study session with the Planning Commission would be a good idea for us to continue to inform ourselves about best practice and strategies to ensure that we are acting consistently with one another. But I would support that because I think the other challenge that wasn't ment

Thank you. We're now on item 13, citizens to be heard. We have, we'll start, if everyone would state their name and address and keep your remarks to three minutes or less, the clerk will remind you when you have 30 seconds left. We'll start with Tevin McDaniel.

I may have misunderstood. Did you say you believe there are no Oklahoma City fire stations east of I-35?

So we do have a map of fire stations on our OKC.gov website, and there are two east of I-35 in Ward 7, Station 27 and Station 4.

Okay. Well, certainly, whatever that came from, we'll need to update it. But we have a fire station map, and we have two fire stations east of I-35.

Happy to visit with you. I'll reach out.

J.D. We're at time, but thank you. Thank you. Next up is Shauna Nelson.

Thank you Thank You Jenna Dunaway Okay, Jarrett Freeman.

May I see that? And can I, I just want to go make a copy for myself and my colleagues. I just heard about that last night. Thank you.

Thank you, Steve Hunt. Sorry, what? Oh, next name, Steve Hunt.

Okay, Penella Truman If I'm saying that right

Thank you. That concludes Citizens to be Heard, which brings us to item 14, adjournment. And we are adjourned.