James Coburn
The Edmond Sun
OKLA. CITY — The Edmond Planning Commission granted site plan approval Tuesday evening for an office park proposed for the north side of 33rd Street, one half-mile east of Boulevard.
Seventeen brick veneer buildings ranging in size from 4,500 square feet would be located on a 4.6-acre tract, said Bob Schiermeyer, city planner. Buildings would have pitched roofs. Upper-floor windows would not face residential properties.
“It’s not really so much a two-story building but they do have a storage area that’s tall with a pitched roof,” he said.
Homeowner Diana Losh sad she is concerned with the height of the buildings as the outside walls would be above the fence line.
Developer Ron Harmon would develop utilities and drainage on the property, which would include 175 parking spaces.
Sensitive border standards have been met, Schiermeyer said. A retaining wall with a sight proof fence on top of it will be along the outside of the project. Dumpsters will need a setback, Schiermeyer said.
“They have no access at the back. There are no dumpsters. No trees are in the front,” he said. “They have no lights at the back.”
Back doors with an extra fire door will be installed to meet the fire code standards with a 60-watt light to match, Harmon said.
Schiermeyer said drainage from the property will be improved. Harmon has exceeded the landscaping requirements on his property, Schiermeyer said.
Nearby homeowner Henry Mogilka asked if any of the existing 30-foot locust trees could be preserved. Plans call to remove the trees that have been damaged by ice and wind storms through the years, Harmon said. He added that installing drainage and utilities on the property would damage the root systems, causing the trees to fail.
“I’ve seen other types of development and I guess this is just an Edmond ordinance or the way they do things,” Mogilka said. “But to take a piece of property like this and completely scrape it clean is sort of — I don’t know — sad to see.”
Harmon said he will put in over 15 percent of the property aesthetic plantings in those areas that don’t interfere with utilities.
