The Edmond Sun

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July 21, 2010

Commission delays Creek Bend office plan

Lisa Shearer The Edmond Sun

EDMOND — The city process for approving the Creek Bend Plaza Addition came to an abrupt halt Tuesday night when two Planning Commission members expressed displeasure at significant changes made by the developer to the preliminary plat.

The hearing for a preliminary plat asked for by John Harrington of Funds for Learning LLC was continued to Aug. 17 after some of the commissioners said they could not support the altered plat.

Creek Bend is a Planned Unit Development suburban office zoned plat that contains five lots with an inter-connecting parking.

The contention of commissioners Barry Moore and Lydia Lee was that agreements made a year ago on the project with neighbors in the Stone Pointe and Chimney Hills additions were radically altered in the plans they saw at Tuesday night’s meeting. They also contend that no one effectively communicated those proposed changes to the commission nor the residents in a timely fashion.

“A lot of people showed up for the design meetings on this issue and signed off on what they thought was the plan,” Lee said. “I feel like I can’t approve the plat tonight without knowing whether people are OK with this.”

Engineer Doug Klassen attended the meeting as Harrington’s representative. He said the design plans changed after the zoning meeting due to topographical and other issues that came up when engineers looked more closely at the site.

Some of the changes included moving a drive to a different spot along Coltrane, moving a building several feet to the north, rotating the parking lot into a different position, moving the location of the trash bin closer to the neighborhood and not designing a detention pond after a Jan. 10 approval from the Stormwater Drainage Advisory Board for the developer to pay the city a fee in lieu of the detention.

Moore complained that he had two phone calls from Klassen earlier Tuesday afternoon and he had asked if there were significant design changes and was told no. Klassen apologized for the misunderstanding.

“I didn’t say you misrepresented, I’m just trying to find out what our conversation really meant,” Moore told Klassen.

Stone Pointe resident Craig Jimenez argued against approving the plat due to the significant changes proposed.

“(When he says) minor grading issues, that brings up a huge red flag to me — (that means) flooding,” Jimenez said, noting Stone Pointe residents say flood waters moved across Coltrane during the June 14 flood event in Edmond.

“I didn’t like (the design plan) a lot when I saw it the last time. I don’t like it all now,” Jimenez said.

The Planning Commission agreed to Klassen’s request for a continuance of both agenda items, which included the preliminary plat and a site plan.

“I hope when we see this again, we’ll know what’s going on a little better,” Moore said.

His motion to continue included a requirement for the developer to agree to a city-facilitated Community Connections meeting with nearby neighbors before it comes back to the Planning Commission on Aug. 17.



lshearer@edmondsun.com | 341-2121, ext. 110

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