The Norman City Council adopted a resolution during its Tuesday meeting that declared intent to consider a project plan and the creation of one or more tax increment finance districts in the northern University North Park area to support a proposed $1 billion entertainment district.
The resolution also created and appointed representatives to a review committee for the potential TIF.
The resolution stated that the city of Norman wanted to develop or help development in the area of Interstate 35 between Tecumseh Road and Robinson Street for some time. It also stated that the development of the area depends on the use of tax increment financing to help the public costs of the project.
A TIF is used to support the redevelopment, infrastructure and community-improvement projects within a certain area with the intent of stimulating private investment in the area in need of economic revitalization.
A staff report posted as part of the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting read:
“Under the proposal, a combination of University and private resources would combine to fund approximately 40% of the total arena construction costs, while the University would only use approximately 25% of the event dates. Team Norman has asked the City to consider funding the remainder of the construction costs as well as some additional infrastructure utilizing tax increment financing.”
The resolution created a review committee to consider the financial impact of the TIF and would report its findings to Norman City Council. The Norman Planning Commission would review the proposed project plan and make a recommendation to city council.
The review committee will consist of one representative each from Norman City Council — who will serve as chair —, the Norman Planning Commission, Cleveland County, Norman Public Schools, the Cleveland County Health Department, Moore-Norman Technology Center and Pioneer Multi-County Library System. The committee would also have three representatives from the public, including at least one from the city’s business community, namely somebody involved in retail, who will be selected from a list of seven names submitted by the committee chairperson.
The resolution made Norman Mayor Larry Heikkila Norman City Council’s representative and chairperson of the review committee.
This would be the fourth TIF in Norman; the first being Campus Corner, the second being in University North Park where Target and Crest are located and the third being Center City, which includes Main Street, Porter Avenue and Gray Street.
The TIF would include ad valorem taxes as well as sales taxes in the area, similar to the other TIFs, except Center City which includes only ad valorem taxes.
The resolution passed 5-4 with Ward 5 Councilmember Michael Nash, Ward 4 Councilmember Helen Grant, Ward 3 Councilmember Bree Montoya and Ward 2 Councilmember Lauren Schueler voting against the committee.
“It’s democracy at its finest,” Lawrence McKinney, Norman Economic Development Coalition president and CEO, told OU Daily after the vote. “Everybody got their say, everybody got to talk. The vote is the vote, and it came out positive for what we want to do. Now we can talk to the public through the statutory review committee.”
To speak in support of the resolution, OU Athletic Director Joe Castiglione said to council that OU and the city of Norman have the chance to be a part of a project that serves many people.
Also with the university, Sean Burrage, vice president for executive affairs and former Oklahoma senate minority leader, told City Council that there isn’t a need to wait and that council should form the committee.
“Let’s form this committee,” Burrage said. “Let’s get this plan together and let’s show the people of Norman exactly what you guys are going to come back later and approve or disapprove. … OU needs this arena for two women’s sports: basketball and gymnastics. But Norman needs this entertainment district.”
Several residents spoke against the resolution and the overall entertainment district, namely saying that the funding for the district hasn’t been clear.
Team Norman, city and university leaders proposed a $1 billion entertainment district on Sept. 6 with a location at Rock Creek Road and 24th Avenue Northwest, the northern part of the University North Park area.
At that announcement, Team Norman, a task force dedicated to bolstering the city for OU’s move to the SEC move, said 80% of the plan’s $1 billion price tag would be covered through private and university funds. The remaining 20% would come through public sources.
"We're making an investment in (the entertainment district) as well. We're putting significant financial resources toward this project," Castiglione said during public comment. Castiglione said the university is prepared to be and already has been transparent in this process.
— Karoline Leonard (@karolineleo_) November 15, 2023
Castiglione said the university was making a significant investment into the entertainment district.
“We're making an investment. We're putting significant financial resources toward this project. Let me be clear about that,” Castiglione said during the council meeting. “This is creating additional competitive benefits to the city. We want to be a great partner.”
Hollye Hunt, chief government affairs officer at OU, said during the meeting that OU has been involved in discussions with the city and mayor, and this committee is vital to continuing discussions about finances for the entertainment district.
Ward 6 Councilmember Elizabeth Foreman said during the meeting that the reason for the late addition to the council agendas was because of her.
“On Thursday last week, I met with Kathryn and people, and what you all don’t know which we were told last week was very shocking,” Foreman said. “And the next day on Friday, I met with some members of our OU community who are in the room right now, and I told them to their faces I would never approve it.”
The city of Norman amended both its special meeting and regular meeting agendas Monday evening to add discussion of the entertainment district and the creation of a review committee for the possible TIF district. The amendments to the agenda were last minute additions, with the special meeting’s agenda coming just before 5 p.m. Monday and the regular meeting’s agenda coming just before 6:30 p.m., when it would have been in violation of the Open Meetings Act.
McKinney said he didn’t know why the resolution for the review committee wasn’t on the agenda on Thursday, but he was glad to see it there Monday evening. OU administrators would not provide comment by the time of publication.
Foreman said she requested it be placed back on the agenda Monday so that this information about the TIF and entertainment district and the project plan could be made public. Foreman said the review committee doesn’t commit council to approving the project and pushed council to approve the resolution.
“They present something to us, we can say, ‘No,’” Foreman said. “I feel that if Council approved what I saw on Thursday, you will have signatures from every resident in Norman against them. You gotta do better, right? We have to keep this conversation going. And this is something that I think is important.”
Nash, who voted against adopting the resolution, said during the meeting that it shouldn’t take creating a committee to receive transparency from Team Norman or to receive a project plan. Nash said the Norman community do not want the entertainment district or a new arena.
“I understand that forming this committee isn’t approving the project, but it’s approving the step toward the project and that is completely unnecessary,” Nash said. “I said there’s nothing preventing them from releasing information and to assume otherwise, for them to imply that they can’t tell us anything about this project without this committee, well that’s just bad faith.”
Nash said a committee is not and should not be needed to receive transparency.
“The only thing that’s preventing them from bringing information to us is themselves,” Nash said. “We don’t need a committee for that. In fact, as long as we don’t have a committee, they have some incentive to bring back something to the public.”
Ward 7 Councilmember Stephen Tyler Holman said he didn’t mind having a committee already prepared so when a project plan is created, discussions and review could get underway.
"For me, I need something to show at present and give feedback on and recommend changes to if necessary," Holman said. "I am not pledging my support for the project tonight and I will not vote for any project if it doesn't meet several benchmarks regarding housing (and) space. … So I don't mind having this plan developed so we have something to show and having a committee waiting to review it.”
Read more about the proposed entertainment district and Tuesday's vote:
This story was edited by Alexia Aston and Taylor Jones.
